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FRANCE  AND  ENGLAND 


NORTH    AMERICA. 


A    SERIES    OF    HISTORICAL    NARRATIVES. 


FRANCIS   PARKMAN, 

authok   ok    ••  histokv    ov   thb    conspiracy    of   rontiac,' 
"the  orkgon  trail,"  KTC. 


PART  FOURTH. 


BOSTON: 
LITTLE,   BROWN,  AND   COMPANY 

1885. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1874,  by 

FRANCIS  PARKMAN, 

lu  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Concress.  at  Washington. 


UNiVEKsiTy  Press:  John  Wilson  &  Son, 
Cambridge. 


THE    OLD    REGIME 


IN 


CANADA. 


BY 


FRANCIS    PARKMAN, 

AUTHOR   OF    "pioneers   OF   FKANCK    IN   THE  NEW    WORLD."    '*  THE 

JJCSUIT8   IN    NORTH   AMERICA,"    AND    "THE    DISCOVEBT 

OP    THE    GREAT    'WKST." 


SIXTEENTH    EDITION. 


BOSTON: 
LITTLE,   BROWN,   AND    COMPANY. 

1885. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  ihe  j-ear  1874,  by 

FRAKCIS  PAEKMAN, 

In  the  Olhce  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington. 


r- 


^u 


UN"VFRS1TY  OF  CALIFOKNIA 
SAK   '^   i.AlitJARA  COLLEGK  LIBRAR 


TO 


GEORGE   EDWARD    ELLIS,  D.D. 


My  dear  Dr.  Ellis: 

When,  in  my  youth,  I  proposed  to  write  a  series  of  books  on  the 
French  in  America,  you  encouraged  the  attempt,  and  your  helpful 
kindness  lias  followed  it  from  that  day  to  this.  Pray  accept  the  dedica- 
tion of  tills  volume  in  token  of  the  grateful  regard  of 

Very  faithfully  yours, 

FRANCIS   PARKMAN. 


i 


PEEFACE. 


"  The  physiognomy  of  a  government,"  says  De 
Tocqueville,  "  can  best  be  judged  in  its  colonies, 
for  there  its  characteristic  traits  usually  appear 
larger  and  more  distinct.  When  I  wish  to  judge 
of  the  spirit  and  the  faults  of  the  administration 
of  Louis  XIV.,  I  must  go  to  Canada.  Its  deform- 
ity is  there  seen  as  through  a  microscope." 

The  monarchical  administration  of  France,  at 
the  height  of  its  power  and  at  the  moment  of 
its  supreme  triumph,  stretched  an  arm  across  the 
Atlantic  and  grasped  the  North  American  conti- 
nent. This  volume  attempts  to  show  by  what 
methods  it  strove  to  make  good  its  hold,  why  it 
achieved  a  certain  kind  of  success,  and  why  it 
failed  at  last.  The  political  system  which  haa 
fallen,  and  the  antagonistic  system  which  has  pre- 
vailed, seem,  at  first  sight,  to  offer  nothing  but 
contrasts;  yet  out  of  the  tomb  of  Canadian  abso- 
lutism come  voices  not  without  suggestion  even  to 
us.  Extremes  meet,  and  Autocracy  and  Democ- 
racy often  touch  hands,  at  least  in  their  vices. 


vLii  PREFACE. 

The  means  of  knowing  the  Canada  of  the  past 
are  ample.  The  pen  was  always  busy  in  this  out- 
post of  the  old  monarchy.  The  king  and  the  min- 
ister demanded  to  know  every  thing ;  and  officials 
of  high  and  low  degree,  soldiers  and  civilians, 
friends  and  foes,  poured  letters,  despatches,  and 
memorials,  on  both  sides  of  every  question,  into 
the  lap  of  government.  These  masses  of  paper 
have  in  the  main  survived  the  perils  of  revolutions 
and  the  incendiary  torch  of  the  Commune.  Add 
to  them  the  voluminous  records  of  the  Superior 
Council  of  Quebec,  and  numerous  other  documents 
preserved  in  the  civil  and  ecclesiastical  depositories 
of  Canada. 

The  governments  of  New  York  and  of  Canada 
have  caused  a  large  part  of  the  papers  in  the 
French  archives,  relating  to  their  early  history,  to 
be  copied  and  brought  to  America,  and  valuable 
contributions  of  material  from  the  same  quarter 
have  been  made  by  the  State  of  Massachusetts  and 
by  pri^'ate  Canadian  investigators.  Nevertheless, 
a  great  deal  has  still  remained  in  France,  uncopied 
and  unexplored.  In  the  course  of  several  visits  to 
that  country,  I  have  availed  myself  of  these  sup- 
plementary papers,  as  well  as  of  those  which  had 
before  been  copied,  sparing  neither  time  nor  pains 
to  explore  every  part  of  the  field.  With  the  help 
of  a  system  of  classified  notes,  I  have  collated  the 
evidence   of    the   various  writers,  and   set   down 


PREFACE.  IX 

without  reserve  all  the  results  of  the  examination, 
whether  favorable  or  unfavorable.  Some  of  them 
are  of  a  character  which  I  regret,  since  they  cannot 
be  agreeable  to  persons  for  whom  I  have  a  very 
cordial  regard.  The  conclusions  drawn  from  the 
facts  may  be  matter  of  opinion,  but  it  will  be 
remembered  that  the  facts  themselves  can  be 
overthrown  only  by  overthrowing  the  evidence 
on  which  they  rest,  or  bringing  forward  counter- 
evidence  of  equal  or  greater  strength ;  and  neither 
task  will  be  found  an  easy  one.^ 

I  have  received  most  valuable  aid  in  my  inqui- 
ries from  the  great  knowledge  and  experience  of 
M.  Pierre  Margry,  Chief  of  the  Archives  of  the 
Marine  and  Colonies  at  Paris.  I  beg  also  warmly 
to  acknowledge  the  kind  offices  of  Abbe  Henri 
Ra3Tiiond  Casgrain  and  Grand  Vicar  Cazeau,  of 
Quebec,  together  with  those  of  James  LeMoine, 
Esq.,  M.  Eugene  Tache,  Hon.  P.  J.  0.  Chauveau, 
and  other  eminent  Canadians,  and  Henry  Har- 
risse,  Esq. 

The  few  extracts  from  original  documents,  which 
are  printed  in  the  appendix,  may  serve  as  samples 
of  the  material  out  of  which  the  work  has  been 
constructed.     In  some   instances  their   testimony 

>  Those  who  vrish  to  see  the  subject  from  a  point  of  view  opposite  to 
mine  cannot  do  better  than  consult  the  work  of  the  Jesuit  Charlevoix, 
with  the  excellent  annotation  of  Mr.  Shea.  (History  and  General  De- 
scription of  New  France,  by  the  Kev.  P.  F.  X.  de  Ciiarlevoix,  S  J.,  trans- 
lated with  notes  by  Jolin  Gilmary  Shea.  G  vols.    New  York  :  18G6-1872.» 


X  PREFACE. 

might  be  multiplied  twenty-fold.  When  the  place 
of  deposit  of  the  docmnents  cited  in  the  margin 
is  not  otherwise  indicated,  they  will,  in  nearly  all 
cases,  be  found  in  the  Archives  of  the  Marine 
and  Colonies. 

In  the  present  book  we  examine  the  pohtical 
and  social  machine ;  in  the  next  volume  of  the 
series  we  shall  see  this  machine  in  action. 

Boston,  July  1,  1874. 


CONTENTS. 


I. 

THE  PERIOD   OF  TRANSITION. 

CHAPTER  I. 

1653-1658. 

the  jesuits  at  onondaga. 

Paoh 

The  Iroquois  War.  —  Father  Poncet.  —  His  Adventures.  —  Jesuit 
Bol('ness.  —  Le  Moyne's  Mission.  —  Cliaumonot  and  Dablon.  — 

—  Iroquois   Ferocity.  —  Tlie   Mohawk   Kidnappers.  —  Critical 
Position.  —  Tlie  Colony  of  Onondaga.  —  Speech  of  Chaumonot. 

—  Omens  of  Destruction.  —  Device  of  the  Jesuits.  —  Tlie  Medi- 
^ne  Feast.  —  The  Escape 1 

CHAPTER  II. 
1642-1661. 

THE    HOLY   WARS    OF   MONTREAL. 

Pcuversi^re. —  Mance  and  Bourgeoys. — Miracle.  —  A  Pious  De- 
faulter. —  Jesuit  and  Sulpitian.  —  Montreal  in  1659.  —  The 
Hospital  Nuns.  —  The  Nuns  and  the  Iroquois.  —  More  Miracles. 

—  The  Murdered  Priests.  —  Brigeac  and  Closse.  —  Soldiers  of 

the  Holy  Family " .      41 

CHAPTER  m. 
1660,  1661. 

THE  HEROES  OF  THE  LONG  8AUT. 

Suffering  and  Terror.  —  Francois  Hertel.  —  The  Captive  Wolf.— 
The  threatened  Invasion. —  Daulac  des  Ormeaux.  —  The  Ad- 
venturers at  the  Long  Saut.  —  The  Attack.  —  A  Desperate 
Defence.  —  A  Final  Assault.  —  The  Fort  taken 68 


xii  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  IV. 
1657-1668. 

THE   DISPUTED   BISIIOPRIO. 

Domestic  Strife.  —  Jesuit  and  Sulpitian.  —  AbW  Queylus.  —  Fran- 
Vois  de  Laval.  —  The  Zealots  of  Caen.  —  Galilean  and  Ultra- 
montane. —  The  Rival  Claimants.  —  Storm  at  Quebec.  —  Laval 
Triumphant 83 

CHAPTER  V. 

1659,  1660. 

LAVAL  AND   ARGENSON. 

Francois  de  Laval.  —  His  Position  and  Character.  —  Arrital  of 
Argenson.  —  The  Quarrel 108 

CHAPTER  VI. 
•  1658-1663. 

LAVAL   AND    AVAUGOUR. 

Reception  of  Argenson.  —  His  DifQcuIties.  —  His  Recall.  —  Dubois 
d'Avaugour.  —  The  Brandy  Quarrel.  —  Distress  of  Laval.  — 
Portents.  —  The  Earthquake 115 

CHAPTER   VIL 

1661-1664. 

LAVAL   AND    DtTMESNIL. 

Pdronne  Dumesnil.  —  The  Old  Council.  —  Alleged  Murder.  —  The 
New  Council.  —  Bourdon  and  Villeray.  —  Strong  Measures.  — 
Escape  of  Dumesnil.  —  Views  of  Colbert 181 

CHAPTER   VIIL 

1657-1665. 

LAVAL   AND    MEZT. 

The  Bishop's  Choice.  —  A  ^lilitary  Zealot.  —  Hopeful  Beginnings. 
—  Signs  of  Storm.  —  The  Quarrel.  —  Distress  of  Me'zy.  —  He 
Refuses  to  Yield.  —  His  Defeat  and  Death 145 


CONTENTS.  Xm 

CHAPTER  K. 

1662-1680. 

laval  and  the  seminary. 

Paqe 

Laval's  Visit  to  Court.  —  The  Seminary.  —  Zeal  of  the  Bishop. 

—  His  Eulogists.  — Church  and  State.  — Attitude  of  Laval  .    .    159 


n. 

THE   COLONY  AND  THE  KING. 

CHAPTER  X. 
1661-1665. 

ROYAL   INTERVENTION'. 

Fontninebleau.  —  Louis  XIV.  —  Colbert.  —  The  Company  of  the 
West.  —  Evil  Omens.  —  Action  of  the  King.  —  Tracy,  Courcelle, 
and  Talon.  —  The  Regiment  of  Carignan-Salieres.  —  Tracy  at 
Quebec.  —  Miracles. — A  Holy  "War 169 

CHAPTER  XI. 

1666,  1667. 

THE    MOHAWKS    CHASTISED. 

Courcelle's  March.  —  His  Failure  and  Return.  —  Courcelle  and  the 
Jesuits.  —  Moliawk  Treacliery. —  Tracy's  Expedition.  —  Burning 
of  the  Mohawk  Towns.  —  French  and  English.  —  DoUier  de  Cas- 
son  at  St.  Anne. — Peace.  —  The  Jesuits  and  the  Iroquoia      .    .     186 

CHAPTER  XIL 
1665-1672. 

PATERNAL   GOVERNMENT. 

Talon.  —  Restriction  and  Monopoly.  —  Views  of  Colbert.  —  Political 
Galvanism. — A  Father  of  the  People 207 


Xi\  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XllL 

1661-1673. 

marriage  and  population. 

Page 
Slnpment    of    Emigrants.  —  Soldier   Settlers.  —  Importation  of 
Wives.  —  Wedlock.  —  Summary   Methods.  —  The  Mothers  of 
Canada. —  Bounties  on  Marriage. —  Celibacy  Punished.  —  Boun- 
ties on  Children.  —  Results 215 

CHAPTER  XIV. 
1665-1672. 

THE    NEW    HOME. 

Military  Frontier.  —  The  Canadian  Settler.  —  Seignior  and  Vassal. 

—  Example  of  Talon.  —  Plan  of  Settlement.  —  Aspect  of 
Canada.  —  Quebec.  —  The  River  Settlements.  —  Montreal.  — 
The  Pioneers 231 

CHAPTER  XV. 
1663-1763. 

CANADIAN   FEUDALISM. 

Transplantation  of  Feudalism.  —  Precautions.  —  Faith  and  Homage. 

—  The  Seignior. —  The  Censitaire. —  Royal  Intervention.  —  The 
Gentilhomme.  —  Canadian  Noblesse 243 


CHAPTER  XVI. 
1663-1763. 

THE   RULERS   OF   CANADA.. 

Nature  of  the  Government.  —  The  Governor.  —  The  Council.  — 
Courts  and  Judges. —  The  Intendant. —  His  Grievances.  —  Strong 
Government.  —  Sedition  and  Blasphemy.  —  Royal  Bounty.  — 
D«fects  and  Abuses 264 


CONTENTS  XV 

CHAPTER  XVn. 

1663-1763. 

trade  and  industht. 

Pagb 
Trade  in  Fetters.  —  The  Huguenot  jMerchants.  —  Royal  Patronage. 

—  The  Fisheries. —  Cries  for  Help.  —  Agriculture.  —  Manufact>- 
ures. — Arts  of  Ornament.  —  Finance.  —  Card  Money.  —  Repudi- 
ation.— Imposts.  —  Tlie  Beaver  Trade.  —  The  Fair  at  Montreal. 

—  Contraband  Trade.  —  A  Fatal  System.  —  Trouble  and 
Change.  —  The  Coureurs  de  Bois.  -  The  Forest.  —  Letter  of 
Carheil 283 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 
1663-1702. 

THE    MISSIONS.      THE    BRANDT   QUESTION. 

The  Jesuits  and  the  Iroquois.  —  Mission  Villages.  —  Michillimack- 
inac.  —  Father  Carheil.  —  Temperance.  —  Brandy  and  the 
Indians.  —  Strong  Measures.  —  Disputes.  —  License  and  Pro- 
hibition.—  Views  of  the  Iving.  —  Trade  and  the  Jesuits    .    .     .     816 

CHAPTER   XIX. 

1668-1763. 

PRIESTS    AND    PEOPLE. 

Qiurch  and  State.  —  The  Bishop  and  the  King.  —  The  King  and 
the  Cure's.  —  The  New  Bishop.  —  The  Canadian  Cure.  — Ecclesi- 
astical Rule.  —  Saint- Vallier  and  Denonville.  —  Clerical  Rigor. 
— Jesuit  and  Sulpitian.  —  Courcelle  and  Chatelain.  —  The  Re- 
eollets.  —  Heresy  and  Witchcraft.  —  Canadian  Nuns.  —  Jeanne 
Le  Ber.  —  Education.  —  The  Seminary.  —  Saint  Joachim.  — 
Miracles  of  Saint  Anne.  —  Canadian  Schools 881 

CHAPTER  XX. 

1640-1763. 

MORALS    AND    MANNERS 

Social  Influence  of  the  Troops.  —  A  Petty  Tyrant.  —  Brawls.  — 
Violence  and  Outlawry. —  State  of  the  Population.  —  Views  of 
Denonville.  —  Brandy.  —  Beggary.  —  The  Past  and  the  Present. 

—  Inns.  —  State  of  Quebec. — Fires.  —  The  Country  Parishes. 

—  Slavery.  —  Views  of  La  Hontan.  —  Of  Hocquart.  —  Of 
Bougainville.  —  Of  Kalm.  —  Of  Charlevoix .'         868 


XVI  CONTEW'ia. 

CHAPTER  XXI. 

1G63-1763. 

canauian  absolutism. 

Paob 
Formation  of  Canadian  Cliaracter.  —  Tlie  Rival  Colonies.  —  Hug- 
land  and  France.  —  New  England.  —  Cliaraeteristics  of  Race.  — 
Military  Qualities.  —  Tlie  Church.  —  The  English  Conquest .     .     894 

APPENDIX. 

A.  The  Hermitage  of  Caen 403 

B.  Laval  and  Argenson 407 

C.  Pe'ronne  Dumesnil 409 

D.  Laval  and  Me'sy 41.3 

E.  Marriage  and  Population 416 

F.  Chateau  St.  Louis 419 

G.  Trade  and  Industry 422 

H.  Letter  of  Father  Carheil 427 

I.  The  Government  and  the  Clergy 482 

J.  Canadian  Cures.     Education.    Discipline 48H 

INDEX 441 


CANADA 

AA'UAUUCKAT  rill'ATUIl 


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1, 

THE    PERIOD    OF    TRANSITION* 


CHAPTER    I. 

1653-1658. 

THE  JESUITS  AT   OXONDAGA. 

The  Iroquois  War.  —  Father  Poncet.  —  His  Adventures.  — 
Jesuit  Boldness.  —  Lb  Moyne's  Mission.  —  Chaumonot  and 
Dablon. — Iroquois  Fkrocity.  —  The  Mohawk  Kidnappers. — 
Critical  Position.  —  The  Colony  of  Onondaga.  —  Speech  op 
Chaumonot.  —  Omens  of  Destruction.  —  Device  of  the  Jes- 
uits.—  The  Medicine  Feast.  —  The  Escape. 

In"  the  Slimmer  of  1653,  all  Canada  turned  to 
fasting  and  penance,  processions,  vows,  and  suppli- 
cations. The  saints  and  the  Virgin  Avere  beset  with 
unceasing  jDrayer.  The  wretched  little  colony  was 
like  some  puny  garrison,  starving  and  sick,  com- 
passed with  inveterate  foes,  supplies  cut  off,  and 
succor  hopeless. 

At  Montreal,  the  advance  guard  of  the  settle- 
ments, a  sort  of  Castle  Dangerous,  held  by  about 
fifty  Frenchmen,  and  said  by  a  pious  writer  of  the 
day  to  exist  only  by  a  continuous  miracle,  some 
two  hundred  Iroquois  fell  upon  twenty-six  French- 
men. The  Christians  were  outmatched,  eio-ht  to 
one ;  but,  says  the  chronicle,  the  Queen  of  Heaven 


2  THE   JESUITS   AT   ONONDAGA.  [165S 

was  on  their  side,  and  the  Son  of  Mary  refuses 
nothing  to  his  holy  mother.'  Through  her  inter- 
cession, the  Iroquois  shot  so  wildly  that  at  their 
first  fire  every  bullet  missed  its  mark,  and  they 
met  with  a  bloody  defeat.  The  pahsaded  settle- 
ment of  Three  Rivers,  though  in  a  position  less 
exposed  than  that  of  Montreal,  was  in  no  less 
jeopardy.  A  noted  w\ar-chief  of  the  Mohawk  Iro- 
quois had  been  captured  here  the  year  before,  and 
put  to  death ;  and  his  tribe  sw^armed  out,  like  a 
nest  of  angry  hornets,  to  revenge  liim.  Not  con- 
tent with  defeating  and  killing  the  commandant, 
Du  Plessis  Bochart,  they  encamped  during  winter 
in  the  neighboring  forest,  watching  for  an  oppor- 
tunity to  surprise  the  place.  Hunger  drove  them 
off,  but  they  returned  in  spring,  infesting  every 
field  and  pathway  ;  till,  at  length,  some  six  hundred 
of  their  warriors  landed  in  secret  and  lay  hidden  in 
the  depths  of  the  w^oods,  sUently  biding  their  time. 
Having  failed,  however,  in  an  artifice  designed  to 
lure  the  French  out  of  their  defences,  they  show^ed 
themselves  on  all  sides,  plundering,  burning,  and 
destroying,  up  to  the  palisades  of  the  fort.^ 

Of  the  three  settlements  which,  with  their  feeble 
dependencies,  then  comprised  the  whole  of  Canada, 
Quebec  was  least  exposed  to  Indian  attacks,  being 
partially  covered  by  Montreal  and  Three  Rivers. 
Nevertheless,  there  was  no  safety  this  year,  even 


'  Le  Mercier,  Relation,  1653,  3. 

2  So  bent  were  they  on  taking  the  place,  that  they  brought  their 
families,  in  order  to  make  a  permanent  settlement.  —  ilarie  de  I'lncarna- 
tion,  Lcttre  dn  6  Sept.,  1653. 


1653.]  PACIFIC  OVERTURES.  3 

under  the  cannon  of  Fort  St.  Louis.  At  Cap 
Rouge,  a  few  miles  above,  the  Jesuit  Poncet  saw 
a  poor  woman  who  had  a  patch  of  corn  beside  her 
cabin,  but  couhl  find  nobody  to  harvest  it.  The 
father  went  to  seek  aid,  met  one  Mathurin 
Franchetot,  whom  he  persuaded  to  undertake  the 
charitable  task,  and  was  returning  with  him,  when 
they  both  fell  into  an  ambuscade  of  Iroquois,  who 
seized  them  and  dragged  them  off.  Thirty-two 
men  embarked  in  canoes  at  Quebvjc  to  follow  the 
retreating  savages  and  rescue  the  prisoners.  Push- 
ing rapidly  up  the  St.  Lawrence,  they  approached 
Three  Rivers,  found  it  beset  by  the  Mohawks, 
and  bravely  threw  themselves  into  it,  to  the  great 
joy  of  its  defenders  and  discouragement  of  the 
assailants. 

Meanwhile,  the  intercession  of  the  Virgin  wrought 
new  marvels  at  Montreal,  and  a  bright  ray  of  hope 
beamed  forth  from  the  darkness  and  the  storm  to 
ch(ier  the  hearts  of  her  votaries.  It  was  on  the 
26  th  of  June  that  sixty  of  the  Onondaga  Iroquois 
appeared  in  sight  of  the  fort,  shouting  from  a  dis- 
tance that  they  came  on  an  errand  of  peace,  and 
asking  safe-conduct  for  some  of  their  number. 
Guns,  scalping-knives,  tomahawks,  were  all  laid 
aside ;  and,  mth  a  confidence  truly  astonisliing,  a 
deputation  of  chiefs,  naked  and  defenceless,  came 
into  the  midst  of  those  whom  they  had  betrayed 
so  often.  The  French  had  a  mind  to  seize  them, 
and  pay  them  in  kind  for  past  treachery ;  but  they 
refrained,  seeing  in  this  wondrous  change  of  heart 
the  manifest  hand  of  Heaven.    Nevertheless,  it  can 


4  THE  JESUITS  AT   ONONDAGA.  [1C5R 

be  explained  without  a  miracle.  The  Iroquois,  or, 
at  least,  the  western  nations  of  their  league,  had 
just  become  involved  in  war  with  their  neighbors 
the  Eries,^  and  "  one  war  at  a  time  "  was  the  sage 
maxim  of  their  policy. 

All  was  smiles  and  blandishment  in  the  fort  at 
Montreal ;  presents  were  exchanged,  and  the  depu- 
ties departed,  bearing  home  golden  reports  of  the 
French.  An  Oneida  deputation  soon  followed ;  but 
the  enraged  Mohawks  still  infested  Montreal  and 
beleaguered  Three  Rivers,  till  one  of  their  prin- 
cipal chiefs  and  four  of  their  best  warriors  were 
captured  by  a  party  of  Christian  Hurons.  Then, 
seeing  themselves  abandoned  by  the  other  nations 
of  the  league  and  left  to  wage  the  war  alone,  they, 
too,  made  overtures  of  peace. 

A  grand  council  was  held  at  Quebec.  Speeches 
were  made,  and  wampum-belts  exchanged.  The 
Iroquois  left  some  of  their  chief  men  as  pledges  of 
sincerity,  and  two  young  soldiers  offered  them- 
selves as  reciprocal  pledges  on  the  part  of  the 
French.  The  war  was  over ;  at  least  Canada  had 
found  a  moment  to  take  breath  for  the  next 
struggle.  The  fur  trade  was  restored  again,  with 
promise  of  plenty ;  for  the  beaver,  profiting  by  the 
quarrels  of  their  human  foes,  had  of  late  greatly 
multiplied.  It  was  a  change  from  death  to  life ; 
for  Canada  lived  on  the  beaver,  and,  robbed  of  this, 


^  See  Jesuits  in  North  America,  438.  The  Iroquois,  it  will  be  remem- 
bered, consisted  of  five  "nations,"  or  tribes,  —  the  Mohawks,  Oneidas, 
Onondagas,  Cayugas,  and  Senecas.  For  an  account  of  them,  see  the 
work  just  cited,  Introduction. 


1653.]  CELESTIAL   INTERVENTION.  5 

her  only  sustenance,  had  been  dying  slowly  since 
the  strife  began.^ 

"  Yesterday,"  writes  Father  Le  Mercier,  "  all  was 
dejection  and  gloom ;  to-day,  all  is  smiles  and 
gayety.  On  Wednesday,  massacre,  burning,  and 
pillage ;  on  Thursday,  gifts  and  visits,  as  among 
friends.  If  the  Iroquois  have  their  hidden  designs, 
so,  too,  has  God. 

"  On  the  day  of  the  Visitation  of  the  Holy 
Virgin,  the  chief,  Aontarisati,^  so  regretted  by  the 
Iroquois,  was  taken  prisoner  by  our  Indians,  in- 
structed by  our  fathers,  and  baptized ;  and,  on  the 
same  day,  being  put  to  death,  he  ascended  to 
heaven.  I  doubt  not  that  he  thanked  the  Virgin 
for  his  misfortune  and  the  blessing  that  followed, 
and  that  he  j)i'ayed  to  God  for  his  countrymen. 

"  The  people  of  Montreal  made  a  solemn  vow  to 
celebrate  publicly  the  fete  of  this  mother  of  all 
blessings ;  whereupon  the  Iroquois  came  to  ask  for 
peace. 

"  It  was  on  the  day  of  the  Assumption  of  this 
Queen  of  angels  and  of  men  that  the  Hurons  took 
at  Montreal  that  other  famous  Iroquois  chief,  w^hose 
ca])tiu"e  caused  the  Mohawks  to  seek  our  alliance. 
■  ^'  On  the  day  when  the  Church  honors  the  Nativity 
of  the  Holy  Virgin,  the  Iroquois  granted  Father 


J  According  to  Le  Mercier,  beaver  to  the  value  of  from  200,000  to 
300,000  livres  was  yearly  brougiit  clown  to  the  colony  before  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  Ilurons  (1649-50).  Three  years  later,  not  one  beaver  skin 
was  brought  to  Mcntreal  during  a  twelvemonth,  and  Three  Rivers  and 
Quebec  had  barely  enough  to  pay  for  keeping  the  fortifications  in 
repair. 

2  The  chief  whose  death  had  so  enraged  the  Mohawks. 


6  THE  JESUITS  AT   ONONDAGA.  [1653 

Poncet  liis  life ;  and  he,  or  rather  the  Holy  Virgin 
and  the  holy  angels,  labored  so  well  in  the  work  of 
peace,  that  on  St.  Michael's  Day  it  was  resolved  in 
a  council  of  the  elders  that  the  father  should  be 
conducted  to  Quebec,  and  a  lasting  treaty  made 
with  the  French."^ 

Happy  as  was  this  consummation.  Father  Ponce  t's 
path  to  it  had  been  a  thorny  one.  He  has  left  us 
his  own  rueful  story,  written  in  obedience  to  the 
command  of  his  superior.  He  and  his  companion 
in  misery  had  been  hurried  through  the  forests, 
from  Cap  Eouge  on  the  St.  Lawrence  to  the  Indian 
towns  on  the  Mohawk.  He  tells  us  how  he  slept 
among  dank  weeds,  dropping  with  the  cold  dew ; 
how  frightful  coUcs  assailed  him  as  he  waded  waist- 
deep  through  a  mountain  stream ;  how  one  of  his 
feet  was  blistered  and  one  of  his  legs  benumbed ; 
how  an  Indian  snatched  away  his  reliquary  and  lost 
the  precious  contents.  "  I  had,"  he  says,  "  a  picture 
of  Saint  Ignatius  with  our  Lord  bearing  the  cross, 
and  another  of  Our  Lady  of  Pity  surrounded  by  the 
five  wounds  of  her  Son.  They  were  my  joy  and 
my  consolation  ;  but  I  hid  them  in  a  bush,  lest  the 
Indians  should  laugh  at  them."  He  kept,  however, 
a  little  image  of  the  crown  of  thorns,  in  which  he 
found  great  comfort,  as  well  as  in  communion  with 
his  patron  saints.  Saint  Raphael,  Saint  Martha,  and 
Saint  Joseph.  On  one  occasion  he  asked  these  celes- 
tial friends  for  something  to  soothe  his  thirst,  and 
for  a  bowl  of  broth  to  revive  his  strength.  Scarcely 
had  he  framed  the  petition  when  an  Indian  gave 

1  Relation,  1653,  18. 


1653.J  THE   WOES   OF  FATHER  PONCET.  7 

him  some  wild  plums ;  and  in  the  evening,  as  he  lay 
fainting  on  the  ground,  another  brought  him  the 
coveted  broth.  Weary  and  forlorn,  he  reached  at 
last  the  lower  Mohawk  town,  where,  after  being 
stripped,  and,  with  his  companion,  forced  to  run 
the  gauntlet,  he  was  placed  on  a  scaffold  of  bark, 
surrounded  by  a  crowd  of  grinning  and  mocking 
savages.  As  it  began  to  rain,  they  took  him  into 
one  of  their  lodges,  and  amused  themselves  by 
making  him  dance,  sing,  and  perform  various  fan- 
tastic tricks  for  their  amusement.  He  seems  to 
have  done  his  best  to  please  them ;  "  but,"  adds 
the  chronicler,  "  I  will  say  in  passing,  that  as  he 
did  not  succeed  to  their  liking  in  these  buffooneries 
(singeries),  they  would  have  put  him  to  death,  if  a 
young  Huron  prisoner  had  not  offered  himself  to 
sing,  dance,  and  make  wry  faces  in  place  of  the 
father,  who  had  never  learned  the  trade." 

Having  sufficiently  amused  themselves,  they  left 
him  for  a  time  in  peace ;  Avhen  an  old  one-eyed 
Indian  approached,  took  his  hands,  examined  them, 
selected  the  left  forefinger,  and  calling  a  child  four 
or  five  years  old,  gave  him  a  knife,  and  told  him 
to  cut  it  off,  which  the  imp  proceeded  to  do,  his 
victim  meanwhile  singing  the  Vexilla  Regis.  After 
this  preliminary,  they  would  have  burned  him,  like 
Franchetot,  his  unfortunate  companion,  had  not  a 
squaw  happily  adopted  him  in  place,  as  he  says,  of 
a  deceased  brother.  He  was  installed  at,  once  in 
the  lodge  of  his  new  relatives,  where,  bereft  of 
every  rag  of  Christian  clothing,  and  attired  in  leg- 
gins,  moccasins,  and  a  greasy  shirt,  the  astonished 


8  THE  JESUITS   AT   ONONDAGA.  [166a 

futlier  saw  himself  transformed  into  an  Iroijiiois. 
But  his  deliverance  was  at  hand.  A  special  agree- 
ment providing  for  it  had  formed  a  part  of  the  treaty 
concluded  at  Quebec ;  and  he  now  learned  that  he 
was  to  be  restored  to  his  countrymen.  After  a 
march  of  almost  intolerable  hardship,  he  saw  him- 
self once  more  among  Christians;  Heaven,  as  he 
modestly  thinks,  having  found  him  unworthy  of 
martyrdom. 

"  At  last,"  he  writes,  "  we  reached  Montreal  on 
the  21st  of  October,  the  nine  weeks  of  my  captivity 
being  accomplislied,  in  honor  of  Saint  JMichael  and 
all  the  holy  angels.  On  the  6th  of  November  the 
Iroquois  who  conducted  me  made  their  presents  to 
confirm  the  peace  ;  and  thus,  on  a  Sunday  evening, 
eighty-and-one  days  after  my  capture,  —  that  is  to 
say,  nine  times  nine  days,  —  this  great  business  of 
the  peace  was  happily  concluded,  the  holy  angels 
showing  by  this  number  nine,  which  is  specially 
dedicated  to  them,  the  part  they  bore  in  this  holy 
work."^  This  incessant  supernaturalism  is  the  key 
^to  the  early  history  of  New  France. 

Peace  was  made ;  but  would  peace  endure  ? 
There  Avas  little  chance  of  it,  and  this  for  several 
reasons.  First,  the  native  fickleness  of  the  Iro- 
quois, who,  astute  and  politic  to  a  surprising  degree, 
were  in  certain  respects,  like  all  savages,  mere 
grown-up  children.  Next,  their  total  want  of  con- 
trol over  their  fierce  and  capricious  young  warriors, 
any  one  of  whom  could  break  the  peace  wdth  im- 

1  Poncet  in  Relation,  1653, 17.  On  Poncet's  captivity  see  also  Morale 
Pratique  des  J€suiies,  vol.  xxxiv.  (4to)  chap.  xii. 


1653.]  IROQUOIS  DESIGNS.  9 

piinity  whenever  he  saw  fit ;  and,  above  all,  the 
strong  probability  that  the  Iroquois  had  made 
peace  in  order,  under  cover  of  it,  to  butcher  or 
kidnap  the  unhappy  remnant  of  the  Hurons  who 
were  living,  under  French  protection,  on  the  island 
of  Orleans,  immediately  below  Quebec.  I  have 
already  told  the  story  of  the  destruction  of  this 
people  and  of  the  Jesuit  missions  established  among 
them.^  The  conquerors  were  eager  to  complete 
their  bloody  triumph  by  seizing  upon  the  refugees 
of  Orleans,  killing  the  elders,  and  strengthening 
their  own  tribes  by  the  adoption  of  the  women, 
children,  and  youths.  The  Mohawks  and  the 
Onondagas  were  competitors  for  the  prize.  Each 
coveted  the  Huron  colony,  and  each  was  jealous 
lest  his  rival  should  pounce  upon  it  first. 

When  the  Mohawks  brought  home  Poncet,  they 
covertly  gave  wampum-belts  to  the  Huron  chiefs, 
and  invited  them  to  remove  to  their  villao;es.  It 
was  the  wolf's  invitation  to  the  lamb.  The  Hurons, 
aghast  with  terror,  went  secretly  to  the  Jesuits, 
and  told  them  that  demons  had  whispered  in  their 
ears  an  invitation  to  destruction.  So  helpless  were 
both  the  Hurons  and  their  French  supporters,  that 
they  saw  no  recourse  but  dissimulation.  The 
Hurons  promised  to  go,  and  only  sought  excuses 
.to  gain  time. 

The  Onondagas  had  a  deeper  plan.  Their  towns 
were  already  full  of  Huron  captives,  former  con- 
verts of  the  Jesuits,  cherishing  their  memory  and 
constantly  repeating   their  praises.     Hence   their 

1  Jesuits  in  North  America 


10  THE   JESUITS   AT   ONONDAGA.  [1654 

tyrants  conceived  the  idea  that  by  planting  at 
Onondaga  a  colony  of  Frenchmen  under  the  direc- 
tion of  these  beloved  fathers,  the  Hurons  of  Orleans, 
disarmed  of  suspicion,  might  readily  be  led  to  join 
them.  Other  motives,  as  we  shall  see,  tended  to 
the  same  end,  and  the  Onondaga  deputies  begged, 
or  rather  demanded,  that  a  colony  of  Frenchmen 
should  be  sent  among  them. 

Here  was  a  dilemma.  Was  not  this,  like  the 
Mohawk  invitation  to  the  Hurons,  an  invitation  to 
butchery  ?  On  the  other  hand,  to  refuse  would 
probably  kindle  the  war  afresh.  The  Jesuits  had 
long  nursed  a  project  bold  to  temerity.  Their 
great  Huron  mission  was  ruined ;  but  might  not 
another  be  built  up  among  the  authors  of  this  ruin, 
and  the  Iroquois  themselves,  tamed  by  the  power 
of  the  Faith,  be  annexed  to  the  kingdoms  of  Heaven 
and  of  France  ?  Thus  would  peace  be  restored  to 
Canada,  a  barrier  of  fire  opposed  to  the  Dutch  and 
English  heretics,  and  the  power  of  the  Jesuits 
vastly  increased.  Yet  the  time  was  hardly  ripe 
for  such  an  attempt.  Before  thrusting  a  head  into 
the  tiger's  jaws,  it  would  be  well  to  try  the  effect 
of  thrusting  in  a  hand.  They  resolved  to  compro- 
mise with  the  danger,  and  before  risking  a  colony 
at  Onondaga  to  send  thither  an  envoy  who  could 
soothe  the  Indians,  confirm  them  in  pacific  designs, 
and  pave  the  way  for  more  decisive  steps.  The 
choice  fell  on  Father  Simon  Le  Moyne. 

The  errand  was  mainly  a  political  one  ;  and  thia 
sagacious  and  able  priest,  versed  in  Indian  lan- 
guages  and   customs,  was   well   suited   to  do   it. 


1654.]  FATHER  LE   MOYNE.  1] 

''  On  the  second  day  of  the  month  of  July,  the  fes- 
tival of  the  Visitation  of  the  Most  Holy  Virgin, 
ever  favorable  to  our  enterprises,  Father  Simon 
Le  Moyne  set  out  from  Quebec  for  the  country 
of  the  Onondaga  Iroquois."  In  these  words  does 
Father  Le  Mercier  chronicle  the  departure  of  his 
brother  Jesuit.  Scarcely  was  he  gone  when  a  band 
of  Mohawks,  under  a  redoubtable  half-breed  known 
as  the  Flemish  Bastard,  arrived  at  Quebec ;  and, 
when  they  heard  that  the  envoy  was  to  go  to  the 
Onondagas  without  visiting  their  tribe,  they  took 
the  imagined  slight  in  high  dudgeon,  displaying 
such  jealousy  and  ire  that  a  letter  was  sent  after 
Le  Moyne,  directing  him  to  proceed  to  the  Mohawk 
towns  before  his  return.  But  he  was  already  be- 
yond reach,  and  the  angry  Mohawks  were  left  to 
digest  their  wrath. 

At  Montreal,  Le  Moyne  took  a  canoe,  a  young 
Frenchman,  and  two  or  three  Indians,  and  began 
the  tumultuous  journey  of  the  Upper  St.  Lawrence. 
Nature,  or  habit,  had  taught  him  to  love  the  wil- 
derness life.  He  and  his  companions  had  strug- 
gled all  day  against  the  surges  of  La  Chine,  and 
were  bivouacked  at  evening  by  the  Lake  of  St. 
Louis,  when  a  cloud  of  mosquitoes  fell  upon  them, 
followed  by  a  shower  of  warm  rain.  The  father, 
stretched  under  a  tree,  seems  clearly  to  have  en- 
joyed himself.  "  It  is  a  pleasure,"  he  writes,  "  the 
sweetest  and  most  innocent  imaginable,  to  have 
no  other  shelter  than  trees  planted  by  Nature  since 
the  creation  of  the  world."  Sometimes,  during 
their  journey,   this  primitive   tent  proved  insuf* 


12  THE  JESUITS  AT  ONONDAGA.  [.£654. 

ficient,  and  they  would  build  a  bark  hut  or  find  a 
partial  shelter  under  their  inverted  canoe.  Now 
they  glided  smoothly  over  the  sunny  bosom  of  the 
calm  and  smiling  river,  and  now  strained  every 
nerve  to  fight  their  slow  way  against  the  rapids, 
dragging  their  canoe  upward  in  the  shallow  water 
by  the  shore,  as  one  leads  an  unwilling  horse  by 
the  bridle,  or  shouldering  it  and  bearing  it  through 
the  forest  to  the  smoother  current  above.  Game 
abounded ;  and  they  saw  great  herds  of  elk  quietly 
defiling  between  the  water  and  the  woods,  with 
little  heed  of  men,  who  in  that  perilous  region 
found  employment  enough  in  hunting  one  another. 
At  the  entrance  of  Lake  Ontario  they  met  a 
party  of  Iroquois  fishermen,  who  proved  friendly, 
and  guided  them  on  their  way.  Ascending  the 
Onondaga,  they  neared  their  destination ;  and  now 
all  misgivings  as  to  their  reception  at  the  Iroquois 
capital  were  dispelled.  The  inhabitants  came  to 
meet  them,  bringing  roasting  ears  of  the  young 
maize  and  bread  made  of  its  pulp,  than  which  they 
knew  no  luxury  more  exquisite.  Their  faces 
beamed  welcome.  Le  Moyne  was  astonished.  "  I 
never,"  he  says,  "  saw  the  like  among  Indians  be- 
fore." They  were  flattered  by  his  visit,  and,  for 
the  moment,  were  glad  to  see  him.  They  hoped 
for  great  advantages  from  the  residence  of  French- 
men among  them;  and,  having  the  Erie  war  on 
their  hands,  they  wished  for  peace  with  Canada. 
"  One  would  caU  me  brother,"  writes  Le  Moyne ; 
"  another,  uncle ;  another,  cousin.  I  never  had 
60  many  relations." 


1654.J  LE  MOYNE  AT  ONONDAGA.  l.S 

He  was  overjoyed  to  find  that  many  of  the 
Huron  converts,  who  had  long  been  captives  at 
Onondaga,  had  not  forgotten  the  teachings  of  their 
Jesuit  instructors.  Such  influence  as  they  had 
with  their  conquerors  was  sure  to  be  exerted  in 
behalf  of  the  French.  Deputies  of  the  Senecas, 
Cayugas,  and  Oneidas  at  length  arrived,  and,  on 
the  10th  of  August,  the  criers  passed  through  the 
town,  summoning  all  to  hear  the  words  of  Onontio. 
The  naked  dignitaries,  sitting,  squatting,  or  lying 
at  full  length,  thronged  the  smoky  hall  of  council 
The  father  knelt  and  prayed  in  a  loud  voice,  in- 
voking the  aid  of  Heaven,  cursing  the  demons  who 
are  spirits  of  discord,  and  calling  on  the  tutelar 
angels  of  the  country  to  open  the  ears  of  his  lis- 
teners. Then  he  opened  his  packet  of  presents 
and  began  his  speech.  "I  was  full  two  hours," 
he  says,  "  in  making  it,  speaking  in  the  tone  of 
a  chief,  and  walking  to  and  fro,  after  their  fashion, 
hke  an  actor  on  a  theatre."  Not  only  did  he  im- 
itate the  prolonged  accents  of  the  Iroquois  orators, 
but  he  adopted  and  improved  their  figures  of 
speech,  and  addressed  them  in  turn  by  their  re 
spective  tribes,  bands,  and  families,  calling  their 
men  of  note  by  name,  as  if  he  had  been  born  among 
them.  They  were  delighted;  and  their  ejacula- 
tions of  approval — hoh-hoh-hoh  —  came  thick  and 
fast  at  every  pause  of  his  harangue.  Especially 
were  they  pleased  with  the  eighth,  ninth,  tenth, 
and  eleventh  presents,  whereby  the  reverend 
speaker  gave  to  the  four  upper  nations  of  the 
league  four  hatchets  to  strike  their  new  enemies, 


14  THE  JESUITS  AT   ONONDAGA.  [1654. 

the  Eries ;  while  by  another  present  he  metaphor- 
icnlly  daubed  their  faces  wiih  the  war-paint.  How- 
ever it  may  have  suited  the  character  of  a  Christian 
priest  to  hound  on  these  savage  hordes  to  a  war 
of  extermination  which  they  had  themselves  pro- 
voked, it  is  certain  that,  as  a  politician,  Le  Moyne 
did  wisely  ;  since  in  the  war  with  the  Eries  lay  the 
best  hope  of  peace  for  the  French. 

The  reply  of  the  Indian  orator  was  friendly  to 
overflowing.  He  prayed  his  French  brethren  to 
choose  a  spot  on  the  lake  of  Onondaga,  where  they 
might  dwell  in  the  country  of  the  Iroquois,  as  they 
dwelt  already  in  their  hearts.  Le  Moyne  promised, 
and  made  two  presents  to  confirm  the  pledge. 
Then,  his  mission  fulfilled,  he  set  out  on  his  return, 
attended  by  a  troop  of  Indians.  As  he  approached 
the  lake,  his  escort  showed  him  a  large  spring  of 
water,  possessed,  as  they  told  him,  by  a  bad  spirit. 
Le  Moyne  tasted  it,  then  boiled  a  little  of  it,  and 
produced  a  quantity  of  excellent  salt.  He  had 
discovered  the  famous  salt-springs  of  Onondaga. 
Fishing  and  hunting,  the  party  pursued  their  way 
till,  at  noon  of  the  7th  of  September,  Le  Moyne 
reached  Montreal.^ 

When  he  reached  Quebec,  his  tidings  cheered  for 
a  while  the  anxious  hearts  of  its  tenants ;  but  an 
unwonted  incident  soon  told  them  how  hollow  was 
the  ground  beneath  their  feet.  Le  Moyne,  accom- 
panied by  two  Onondagas  and  several  Hurons  and 
Algonquins,  was  returning  to  Montreal,  when  he 
and  his  companions  were  set  upon  by  a  war-party 

1  Journal  du  Pere  Le  Moine,  Relation,  1654,  chaps,  vi.  vii. 


1654-55.'  MOHAWK   OUTRAGES.  15 

of  Mohawks.  The  Hurons  and  Algonquhis  were 
killed.  One  of  the  Ononda«:as  shared  their  fate, 
and  the  other,  with  Le  Moyne  himself,  was  seized 
and  boinid  fast.  The  captive  Onondaga,  however, 
was  so  lond  in  his  threats  and  denunciations,  that 
the  Mohawks  released  both  him  and  the  Jesuit.^ 
Here  was  a  foreshadowing  of  civil  war,  Mohawk 
against  Onondaga,  Iroquois  against  Iroquois.  The 
quarrel  Avas  patched  up,  but  fresh  provocations 
were  imminent. 

The  Mohawks  took  no  part  in  the  Erie  war,  and 
hence  their  hands  were  free  to  fig-ht  the  French 
and  the  tribes  allied  with  them.  Reckless  of  their 
promises,  they  began  a  series  of  butcheries,  fell 
upon  the  French  at  Isle  aux  Oies,  killed  a  lay 
brother  of  the  Jesuits  at  Sillery,  and  attacked  Mont- 
real. Here,  being  roughly  handled,  they  came 
for  a  time  to  their  senses,  and  offered  terms,  prom- 
ising to  spare  the  French,  but  declaring  that  they 
woidd  still  wage  war  against  the  Hurons  and  Al- 
gonquins.  These  were  allies  whom  the  French 
were  pledged  to  protect;  but  so  helpless  was  the 
colony,  that  the  insolent  and  humiliating  proffer 
was  accepted,  and  another  peace  ensued,  as  hollow 
as  the  last.  The  indefatigable  Le  Moyne  was  sent 
to  the  Mohawk  towns  to  confirm  it,  "  so  far,"  says 
the  chronicle,  "  as  it  is  possible  to  confirm  a  peace 
made  by  infidels  backed  by  heretics."^  The  Mo- 
hawks received  him  with  great  rejoicing ;  yet  his 

1  Compare  Relation,  1654,  33,  and  Lettre  de  Marie  de  V Incarnation,  18 
Octobre,  1654. 

^  Copie  de  Deux  Lettres  envoy€es  de  la  Nouvelle  France  au  Pere  Procuretu 
des  Missions  de  la  Compagnie  de  J€sus. 


1()  THE  JESUITS   AT   ONONDAGA,  [UiSS. 

life  w.'is  not  safe  for  a  moment.  A  warrior,  feign- 
ing madness,  raved  through  the  town  with  uplifted 
hatchet,  howhng  for  his  blood ;  but  the  saints 
watched  over  him  and  balked  the  machinations  of 
hell.  He  came  off  alive  and  returned  to  Montreal, 
spent  with  famine  and  fatigue. 

Meanwhile  a  deputation  of  eighteen  Onondaga 
chiefs  arrived  at  Quebec.  There  was  a  grand 
council.  The  Onondagas  demanded  a  colony  of 
Frenchmen  to  dwell  among  them.  Lauson,  the 
governor,  dared  neither  to  consent  nor  to  refuse. 
A  middle  course  was  chosen,  and  two  Jesuits,  Chau- 
monot  and  Dablon,  were  sent,  like  Le  Moyne,  partly 
to  gain  time,  partly  to  reconnoitre,  and  partly  to 
confirm  the  Onondagas  in  such  good  intentions  as 
they  might  entertain.  Chaumonot  was  a  veteran 
of  the  Huron  mission,  who,  miraculously  as  he  him- 
self supposed,  had  acquired  a  great  fluency  in  the 
Huron  tongue,  which  is  closely  allied  to  that  of  the 
Iroquois.  Dablon,  a  new-comer,  spoke,  as  yet,  no 
Indian. 

Their  voyage  up  the  St.  Lawrence  was  enlivened 
by  an  extraordinary  bear-hunt,  and  by  the  antics 
of  one  of  their  Indian  attendants,  who,  having 
dreamed  that  he  had  swallowed  a  frog,  roused  the 
whole  camp  by  the  gymnastics  with  which  he  tried 
to  rid  himself  of  the  intruder.  On  approaching 
Onondaga,  they  were  met  by  a  chief  who  sang  a 
song  of  welcome,  a  part  of  which  he  seasoned  with 
touches  of  humor,  apostrophizing  the  fish  in  the 
river  Onondaga,  naming  each  sort,  great  or  small, 
and  calling  on  them  in  turn  to  come  into  the  nets 


1665.1  CHAUMONOT'S  ELOQUENCE.  17 

of  the  Frenchmen  and  sacrifice  life  cheerfully  foi 
their  behoof.  Hereupon  there  was  much  laughter 
among  the  Indian  auditors.  An  unwonted  cleanli- 
ness reigned  in  the  town ;  the  streets  had  been 
cleared  of  refuse,  and  the  arched  roofs  of  the  long 
houses  of  bark  were  covered  with  red-skinned  chil- 
dren staring  at  the  entry  of  the  "black  robes." 
Crowds  followed  behind,  and  all  was  jubilation. 
The  dignitaries  of  the  tribe  met  them  on  the  way, 
ajid  greeted  them  with  a  speech  of  welcome.  A 
least  of  bear's  meat  awaited  them;  but,  unhap- 
pily, it  was  Friday,  and  the  fathers  were  forced 
to  abstain. 

"  On  Monday,  the  15th  of  November,  at  nine  in 
the  morning,  after  having  secretly  sent  to  Paradise 
a  dying  infant  by  the  waters  of  baptism,  all  the 
elders  and  the  people  having  assembled,  we  opened 
the  council  by  public  prayer."  Thus  writes  Father 
Dablon.  His  colleague,  Chaumonot,  a  Frenchman 
bred  in  Italy,  now  rose,  with  a  long  belt  of  wam- 
pum in  his  hand,  and  proceeded  to  make  so  effec- 
tive a  display  of  his  rhetorical  gifts  that  the  Indians 
were  lost  in  admiration,  and  their  orators  put  to 
the  blush  by  his  improvements  on  their  own  meta- 
phors. "  If  he  had  spoken  all  day,"  said  the  de 
lighted  auditors,  "  we  should  not  have  had  enough 
of  it."  "The  Dutch,"  added  others,  "have  neither 
brains  nor  tongues  ;  they  never  tell  us  about  Para- 
dise and  Hell ;  on  the  contrary,  they  lead  us  into 
bad  ways." 

On  the  next  day  the  chiefs  returned  their  an- 
swer.    The  council  opened  with  a  song  or  chant, 

2 


18  THE  JESUITS   AT   ONONDAGA.  [1665 

which  was  divided  into  six  parts,  and  which,  ac- 
cording to  Dablon,  was  exceedingly  w^ell  sung. 
The  burden  of  the  fifth  part  was  as  follows:  — 

"  Farewell  war ;  farewell  tomahaw^k ;  w^e  have 
been  fools  till  now ;  henceforth  we  will  be  brother^ ; 
yes,  we  will  be  brothers." 

Then  came  four  presents,  the  third  of  which 
enraptured  the  fathers.  It  was  a  belt  of  seven 
thousand  beads  of  wampum.  "  But  this,"  says 
Dablon,  "  was  as  nothing  to  the  words  that  accom- 
panied it."  "  It  is  the  gift  of  the  faith,"  said  the 
orator ;  "  it  is  to  tell  you  that  we  are  believers ;  it 
is  to  beg  you  not  to  tire  of  instructing  us ;  have 
patience,  seeing  that  we  are  so  dull  in  learning 
prayer;  push  it  into  our  heads  and  our  hearts." 
Then  he  led  Chaumonot  into  the  midst  of  the  as- 
sembly, clasped  him  in  his  arms,  tied  the  belt  about 
his  waist,  and  protested,  with  a  suspicious  redun- 
dancy of  words,  that  as  he  clasped  the  father,  so 
would  he  clasp  the  faith. 

What  had  wrouo;ht  this  sudden  chano;e  of  heart  ? 
The  eagerness  of  the  Onondagas  that  the  French 
should  settle  among  them,  had,  no  doubt,  a  large 
share  in  it.  For  the  rest,  the  two  Jesuits  saw 
abundant  signs  of  the  fierce,  uncertain  nature  of 
those  with  whom  they  were  dealing.  Erie  prison- 
ers were  brought  in  and  tortured  before  their  eyes, 
one  of  them  being  a  young  stoic  of  about  ten  years, 
who  endured  his  fate  wdthout  a  single  outcry. 
Huron  women  and  children,  taken  in  war  and 
adopted  by  their  captors,  were  killed  on  the  slight- 
est provocation,  and  sometimes  from  mere  caprice. 


1056.]  DANGERS   AND   DIFFICULTIES.  19 

For  several  days  the  whole  town  was  in  an  uproar 
with  the  crazy  follies  of  the  "  dream  feast,"  ^  and 
one  of  the  Fathers  nearly  lost  his  life  in  this  Indian 
Bedlam. 

One  point  was  clear ;  the  French  must  make  a 
Bettlement  at  Onondaga,  and  that  speedily,  or,  de- 
spite their  professions  of  brotherhood,  the  Onon- 
dagas  would ,  make  war.  Their  attitude  became 
menacing ;  from  urgency  they  passed  to  threats ; 
and  the  two  priests  felt  that  the  critical  posture  of 
affairs  must  at  once  be  reported  at  Quebec.  But 
here  a  difficulty  arose.  It  was  the  beaver-hunting 
season ;  and,  eager  as  were  the  Indians  for  a 
French  colony,  not  one  of  them  would  offer  to 
conduct  the  Jesuits  to  Quebec  in  order  to  fetch 
one.  It  was  not  until  nine  masses  had  been  said 
to  Saint  John  the  Baptist,  that  a  number  of  Indians 
consented  to  forego  their  hunting,  and  escort 
Father  Dablon  home.^  Chaumonot  remained  at 
Onondaga,  to  watch  his  dangerous  hosts  and  soothe 
their  rising  jealousies. 

It  was  the  2d  of  March  when  Dablon  began  his 
journey.  His  constitution  must  have  been  of  iron, 
or  he  would  have  succumbed  to  the  appalling  hard- 
ships of  the  way.  It  was  neither  winter  nor  spring, 
l^he  lakes  and  streams  were  not  yet  open,  but  the 
half-thawed  ice  gave  way  beneath  the  foot.  One 
of  the  Indians  fell  through  and  was  dro^vned. 
Swamp  and  forest  were  clogged  with  sodden  snow, 

*  See  Jesuits  in  North  America,  67. 

■''  De  Quen,  Relation,  1G56,  35.  Chaumonot,  in  his  Autobiography, 
ascribes  the  miracle  to  the  intercession  of  the  deceased  Br^euf. 


20  THE  JESUITS  AT  ONONDAGA.  [1658 

and  ceaseless  rains  drenched  them  as  they  toiled 
on,  knee-deep  in  slush.  Happily,  the  St.  Lawrence 
was  open.  They  found  an  old  wooden  canoe  by 
the  shore,  embarked,  and  reached  Montreal  after 
a  journey  of  four  weeks. 

Dablon  descended  to  Quebec.  There  was  long 
and  ajixious  counsel  in  the  chambers  of  Fort  St. 
Louis.  The  Jesuits  had  information  that,  if  the 
demands  of  the  Onondagas  were  rejected,  they 
would  join  the  Mohawks  to  destroy  Canada.  But 
why  were  they  so  eager  for  a  colony  of  French- 
men ?  Did  they  want  them  as  hostages,  that  they 
might  attack  the  Hurons  and  Algonquins  without 
risk  of  French  interference ;  or  would  they  mas- 
sacre them,  and  then,  like  tigers  mad  with  the  taste 
of  blood,  turn  upon  the  helpless  settlements  of  the 
St.  Lawrence  ?  An  abyss  yawned  on  either  hand. 
Lauson,  the  governor,  was  in  an  agony  of  indeci- 
sion, but  at  length  declared  for  the  lesser  and 
remoter  peril,  and  gave  his  voice  for  the  colony. 
The  Jesuits  were  of  the  same  mind,  though  it  was 
they,  and  not  he,  who  must  bear  the  brunt  of  dan- 
ger. "  The  blood  of  the  martyrs  is  the  seed  of  the 
Church,"  said  one  of  them,  "  and,  if  we  die  by  the 
fires  of  the  Iroquois,  we  shall  have  won  eternal  life 
by  snatching  souls  from  the  fires  of  Hell." 

Preparation  was  begun  at  once.  The  expense 
fell  on  the  Jesuits,  and  the  outfit  is  said  to  have 
cost  them  seven  thousand  li\Tes,  —  a  heavy  sum 
for  Canada  at  that  day.  A  pious  gentleman,  Zach- 
ary  Du  Puys,  major  of  the  fort  of  Quebec,  joined 
the   expedition   with  ten  soldiers;    and   between 


1656.1  DEPARTUHE.  21 

thirty  and  forty  other  Frenchmen  also  enrolled  them- 
selves, impelled  by  devotion  or  destitution.  Fom- 
Jesuits,  Le  Mercier,  the  superior,  with  Dablon, 
Menard,  and  Fremin,  besides  two  lay  brothers  of 
the  order,  formed,  as  it  were,  the  pivot  of  the 
enterprise.  The  governor  made  them  the  grant  of  a 
hundred  square  leagues  of  land  in  the  heart  of  the 
Iroquois  country,  —  a  preposterous  act,  which,  had 
the  Iroquois  kno^^^l  it,  would  have  rekindled  the 
war ;  but  Lauson  had  a  mania  for  land-grants,  and 
was  liimself  the  proprietor  of  vast  domains  which  he 
could  have  occupied  only  at  the  cost  of  his  scalp. 

Embarked  in  two  large  boats  and  followed  by 
twelve  canoes  filled  with  Hurons,  Onondagas,  and 
a  few  Senecas  lately  arrived,  they  set  out  on  the 
17th  of  May  "  to  attack  the  demons,"  as  Le  Mer- 
cier  writes,  "in  their  very  stronghold."  With 
shouts,  tears,  and  benedictions,  priests,  soldiers,  and 
inhabitants  waved  farewell  from  the  strand.  They 
passed  the  bare  steeps  of  Cape  Diamond  and  the 
mission-house  nestled  beneath  the  heights  of  Sil- 
lery,  and  vanished  from  the  anxious  eyes  that 
watched  the  last  gleam  of  their  receding  oars.^ 

Meanwhile  three  hundred  Mohawk  warriors  had 
taken  the  war-path,  bent  on  killing  or  kidnapping 
the  Hurons  of  Orleans.  When  they  heard  of  the 
departure  of  the  colonists  for  Onondaga,  their  rage 
was  unbounded ;  for  not  only  were  they  fidl  of 
jealousy  towards  their  Onondaga  confederates,  but 
they  had  hitherto  derived  great  profit  from  the 

*  Marie  de  I'lncarnation,  Lettres,  1656.  Le  Mercier,  Relation,  1657 
ohap.  iv.     Chaulmer,  Nouveau  Monde,  II.  265,  322,  319. 


22  THE  JESUITS  AT  ONONDAGA.  [1056. 

control  which  their  local  position  gave  them  over 
the  traffic  between  this  tribe  and  the  D  itch  of  the 
Hudson,  upon  whom  the  Onondagas,  in  common 
with  all  the  upper  Iroquois,  had  been  dependent 
for  their  guns,  hatchets,  scalping-knives,  beads, 
blankets,  and  brandy.  These  supplies  would  now 
be  funiished  by  the  French,  and  the  Mohawk  spec- 
ulators saw  their  occupation  gone.  Nevertheless, 
they  had  just  made  peace  mth  the  French,  and, 
for  the  moment,  were  not  quite  in  the  mood  to 
break  it.  To  wreak  their  spite,  they  took  a  mid- 
dle course,  crouched  in  ambush  among  the  bushes 
at  Point  St.  Croix,  ten  or  twelve  leagues  above 
Quebec,  allowed  the  boats  bearing  the  French  to 
pass  immolested,  and  fired  a  volley  at  the  canoes 
in  the  rear,  filled  with  Onondagas,  Senecas,  and 
Hurons.  Then  they  fell  upon  them  with  a  yell, 
and,  after  Avounding  a  lay  brother  of  the  Jesuits 
who  was  among  them,  flogged  and  bound  such  of 
the  Indians  as  they  could  seize.  The  astonished 
Onondagas  protested  and  threatened ;  whereupon 
the  Mohawks  feigned  great  surprise,  declared  that 
they  had  mistaken  them  for  Hurons,  called  them 
brothers,  and  suifered  the  whole  party  to  escape 
without  further  injury.^ 

The  three  hundred  maurauders  now  paddled 
their  large  canoes  of  elm-bark  stealthily  down 
the  current,  passed  Quebec  undiscovered  in  the 
dark  night  of  the  19th  of  May,  landed  in  early 
morning  on  the  island  of  Orleans,  and  ambushed 

1  Compare  Marie  de  I'lncarnation,  Lettre  14  AoiU,  1656,  Le  JeunQ 
Relation,  1657,  9. 


I656.J  MOHAWK  INSOLENCE.  23 

themselves  to  surprise  the  Hurons  as  they  came 
to  labor  in  their  cornfields.  They  were  tolerably 
successful,  Idlled  six,  and  captured  more  than 
eighty,  the  rest  taldng  refuge  in  their  fort,  where 
the  Mohawks  dared  not  attack  them. 

At  noon,  the  French  on  the  rock  of  Quebec  saw 
fo]ty  canoes  approaching  from  the  island  of  Or- 
leans, and  defiling,  with  insolent  parade,  in  front  of 
the  town,  all  crowded  with  the  Mohawks  and  their 
prisoners,  among  whom  were  a  great  number  of 
Huron  girls.  Their  captors,  as  they  passed,  forced 
them  to  sing  and  dance.  The  Hurons  were  the 
allies,  or  rather  the  wards  of  the  French,  who 
were  in  every  way  pledged  to  protect  them.  Yet 
the  cannon  of  Fort  St.  Louis  were  silent,  and  the 
crowd  stood  gaping  in  bewilderment  and  fright. 
Had  an  attack  been  made,  nothing  but  a  complete 
success  and  the  capture  of  many  prisoners  to  serve 
as  hostages  could  have  prevented  the  enraged  Mo- 
hawks from  taking  their  revenge  on  the  Onondaga 
colonists.  The  emergency  demanded  a  prompt  and 
clear-sighted  soldier.  The  governor,  Lauson,  was 
a  gray-haired  civilian,  who,  however  enterprising 
as  a  speculator  in  wild  lands,  was  in  no  way  matclied 
to  the  desperate  crisis  of  the  hour.  Some  of  the 
Mohawks  landed  above  and  below  the  town,  and 
plundered  the  houses  from  which  the  scared  inhab- 
itants had  fled.  Not  a  soldier  stirred  and  not  a  gun 
was  fired.  The  French,  bullied  by  a  hOrde  of  naked 
savages,  became  an  object  of  contempt  to  then' 
own  allies. 

The   Mohawks    carried    their    prisoners    home, 


24  THE  JESUITS  AT  ONONDAGA  [1650 

burned  six  of  them,  and  adopted  or  rather  en- 
flaved  the  rest.^ 

IMeanwliile  the  Onondaga  colonists  pursued  their 
perilous  way.  At  Montreal  they  exchanged  their 
heavy  boats  for  canoes,  and  resumed  their  journey 
with  a  flotilla  of  twenty  of  these  sylvan  vessels.  A 
few  days  after,  the  Indians  of  the  party  had  the 
satisfaction  of  pillaging  a  small  band  of  Mohawk 
hunters,  in  vicarious  reprisal  for  their  own  wrongs. 
On  the  26th  of  June,  as  they  neared  Lake  Ontario, 
they  heard  a  loud  and  lamentable  voice  from  the 
edge  of  the  forest;  whereupon, having  beaten  their 
drum  to  show  that  they  were  Frenchmen,  they  bc' 
held  a  spectral  figure,  lean  and  covered  with  scars, 
which  proved  to  be  a  pious  Huron,  one  Joachim 
Ondakout,  captured  by  the  Mohawks  in  their  de- 
scent on  the  island  of  Orleans,  five  or  six  weeks 
before.  They  had  carried  him  to  their  village  and 
begun  to  torture  him  ;  after  Avhich  they  tied  him 
fast  and  lay  doAvn  to  sleep,  thinking  to  resume 
their  pleasure  on  the  morrow.  His  cuts  and  burns 
being  only  on  the  surface,  he  had  the  good  fortune 
to  free  himself  from  his  bonds,  and,  naked  as  he  was, 
to  escape  to  the  woods.  He  held  his  course  north- 
westward, through  regions  even  now  a  wilderness, 
gathered  wild  strawberries  to  sustain  life,  and,  in 
fifteen  days,  reached  the  St.  Lawrence,  nearly  dead 
with  exhaustion.  The  Frenchmen  gave  him  food 
and  a  canoe,  and  the  living  skeleton  paddled  with 
a  light  heart  for  Quebec. 

The  colonists  themselves  soon  began  to  sulPei 

1  See  authorities  j  ast  cited,  and  Perrot,  Masurs  des  Sauvages,  106. 


1666.]  FAMINE.  25 

from  liniiger.  Their  fishing  failed  on  Lake  OntariOj 
and  thej  were  forced  to  content  themselves  with 
cranberries  of  the  last  year,  gathered  in  the  mead- 
ows. Of  their  Indians,  all  but  five  deserted  them. 
The  Father  Superior  fell  ill,  and  when  they  reached 
the  mouth  of  the  Oswego  many  of  the  starving 
Frenchmen  had  completely  lost  heart.  Weary  and 
faint,  they  dragged  their  canoes  up  the  rapids,  when 
suddenly  they  were  cheered  by  the  sight  of  a  stran- 
ger canoe  swiftly  descending  the  current.  The 
Onondagas,  aware  of  their  approach,  had  sent  it  to 
meet  them,  laden  with  Indian  corn  and  fresh  salmon. 
Two  more  canoes  followed,  freighted  like  the  first ; 
and  now  all  was  abundance  tiU  they  reached  their 
journey's  end,  the  Lake  of  Onondaga.  It  lay  before 
them  in  the  July  sun,  a  glittering  mirror,  framed 
in  forest  verdure. 

They  knew  that  Chaumonot  with  a  crowd  of  In- 
dians was  awaiting  them  at  a  spot  on  the  margin 
of  the  water,  which  he  and  Dablon  had  chosen  as 
the  site  of  their  settlement.  Landing  on  the  strand, 
they  fired,  to  give  notice  of  their  approach,  five 
small  cannon  which  they  had  brought  in  their 
canoes.  Waves,  woods,  and  hills  resounded  with 
the  thunder  of  their  miniature  artillery.  Then  re- 
embarking,  they  advanced  in  order,  four  canoes 
abreast,  towards  the  destined  spot.  In  front  floated 
their  banner  of  wliite  silk,  embroidered  in  large 
letters  with  the  name  of  Jesus.  Here  were  Du 
Puys  and  his  soldiers,  with  the  picturesque  uni- 
forms and  quaint  weapons  of  their  time ;  Le  Mer- 
cier  and  his  Jesuits  in  robes  of  black  j  hunters  and 


26  THE  JESUITS  AT  ONONDAGA.  [1G5G 

busli-rangers ;  Indians  painted  and  feathered  for  a 
festal  day.  As  they  neared  the  pLice  where  a  spring 
bubbling  from  the  hillside  is  still  kno^\^l  as  the 
"Jesuits'  Well,"  they  saw  the  edge  of  the  forest 
dark  with  the  muster  of  savages  whose  yells  of 
welcome  answered  the  salvo  of  their  guns.  Happily 
for  them,  a  flood  of  summer  rain  saved  them  from 
the  harangues  of  the  Onondaga  orators,  and  forced 
white  men  and  red  alike  to  seek  such  shelter  as 
they  could  find.  Their  hosts,  with  hospitable  in- 
tent, would  fain  have  sung  and  danced  all  night ; 
but  the  Frenchmen  pleaded  fatigue,  and  the  court- 
eous savages,  squatting  around  their  tents,  chanted 
in  monotonous  tones  to  lull  them  to  sleep.  In 
the  morning  they  woke  refreshed,  sang  Te 
Deiun,  reared  an  altar,  and,  with  a  solemn  mass, 
took  possession  of  the  country  in  the  name  of 
Jesus.^ 

Three  things,  which  they  saw  or  heard  of  in  their 
new  home,  excited  their  astonishment.  The  first 
was  the  vast  flight  of  wild  pigeons  which  in  spring 
darkened  the  air  around  the  Lake  of  Onondaga ; 
the  second  was  the  salt  springs  of  Salina ;  the  tliird 
was  the  rattlesnakes,  wliich  Le  Mercier  describes 
with  excellent  precision,  adding  that,  as  he  learns 
from  the  Indians,  their  tails  are  good  for  toothache 
and  their  flesh  for  fever.  These  reptiles,  for  reasons 
best  known  to  themselves,  haunted  the  neighbor- 
hood of  the  salt-springs,  but  did  not  intrude  their 
presence  into  the  abode  of  the  French. 
'  On  the  17th  of  July,  Le  Mercier  and  Chaiunonot, 

1  Le  Mercier,  Relation,  1657,  14. 


1666.J  THE  IROQUOIS   CAPITAL.  27 

escorted  by  a  file  of  soldiers,  set  out  for  Onondaga, 
scarcely  five  leagues  distant.  They  followed  the 
Indian  trail,  under  the  leafy  arches  of  the  woods, 
by  hill  and  hollow,  still  swamp  and  gurgling  brook, 
till  through  the  opening  foliage  they  saw  tlie  Iro- 
quois capital,  compassed  with  cornfields  and  girt 
with  its  rugged  palisade.  As  the  Jesuits,  like  black 
spectres,  issued  from  the  shadows  of  the  forest,  fol- 
lowed by  the  plumed  soldiers  with  shouldered  ar- 
quebuses, the  red-skinned  population  swarmed  out 
like  bees,  and  they  defiled  to  the  town  through 
gazing  and  admiring  throngs.  All  conspired  to 
welcome  them.  Feast  followed  feast  throughout 
the  afternoon,  till,  what  with  harangues  and  songs, 
bear's  meat,  beaver-tails,  and  venison,  beans,  corn, 
and  grease,  they  were  wellnigh  killed  with  kindness. 
"  If,  after  this,  they  murder  us,"  writes  Le  Mercier, 
"  it  will  be  from  ficldeness,  not  premeditated  treach- 
ery." But  the  Jesuits,  it  seems,  had  not  sounded 
the  depths  of  Iroquois  dissimulation.* 

There  was  one  exception  to  the  real  or  pretended 
joy.  Some  Mohawks  were  in  the  town,  and  their 
orator  was  insolent  and  sarcastic ;  but  the  ready 
tono;ue  of  Chaumonot  turned  the  lauo-h  aarainst  him 

O  DO 

and  put  hun  to  shame. 

Here  burned  the  council  fire  of  the  Iroquois,  and 
at  this  very  time  the  deputies  of  the  five  tribes 
were  assembling.    The  session  opened  on  the  24  th. 

'  TIic  Jesuits  were  afterwards  told  by  Ilurons,  captive  among  the 
Mohawks  and  the  Onondagas,  tliat,  from  tiie  first,  it  was  intended  to 
massacre  the  French  as  soon  as  their  presence  had  attracted  tiie  remnant 
of  the  Ilurons  of  Orleans  into  the  power  of  the  Onondagas.  LcUre  du  P. 
Ragneneau  ait  R.  P.  Provincial,  31  Aoul,  1658. 


28  THE  JESUITS   AT   ONONDAGA.  [1656. 

ill  the  great  council  house,  on  the  earthen  flooi 
and  the  broad  platforms  beneath  the  smoke- 
begrimed  concave  of  the  bark  roof,  stood,  sat,  or 
squatted,  the  wisdom  and  valor  of  the  confederacy ; 
Mohawks,  Oneidas,  Onondagas,  Cayugas,  and  Sen- 
ecas;  sachems,  counsellors,  orators,  warriors  fresh 
from  Erie  victories ;  tall,  stalwart  figures,  limbed 
like  Grecian  statues. 

The  pressing  business  of  the  council  over,  it  waa 
Chaumonot's  turn  to  sjDeak.  But,  first,  all  the 
Frenchmen,  kneeling  in  a  row,  with  clasped  hands 
sang  the  Veni  Creator,  amid  the  silent  admiration 
of  the  auditors.  Then  Chaumonot  rose,  with  an 
immense  wampum-belt  in  his  hand. 

"  It  is  not  trade  that  brings  us  here.  Do  you 
think  that  your  beaver  skins  can  pay  us  for  all  our 
toils  and  dangers  ?  Keep  them,  if  you  like ;  or,  if 
any  fall  into  our  hands,  we  shall  use  them  only  for 
your  service.  We  seek  not  the  things  that  perish. 
It  is  for  the  Faith  that  we  have  left  our  homes  to 
live  in  your  hovels  of  bark,  and  eat  food  which  the 
beasts  of  our  country  would  scarcely  touch.  We 
are  the  messengers  whom  God  has  sent  to  tell  you 
that  his  Son  became  a  man  for  the  love  of  you ; 
that  this  man,  the  Son  of  God,  is  the  prince  and 
master  of  men;  that  he  has  prepared  in  heaven 
eternal  joys  for  those  who  obey  him,  and  kindled 
the  fires  of  hell  for  those  who  will  not  receive  his 
word.  If  you  reject  it,  whoever  you  are,  —  Onon- 
daga, Seneca,  Mohawk,  Cayuga,  or  Oneida, — know 
that  Jesus  Christ,  who  inspires  my  heart  and  my 
voice,  will  plunge  you  one  day  into  hell.     Avert 


1656.J  THE  NEW  MISSION  29 

this  ruin  ;  be  not  the  authors  of  your  o^\ti  destruc- 
tion ;  accept  the  truth ;  listen  to  the  voice  of  the 
Omnipotent." 

Such,  in  brief,  was  the  pith  of  the  father's  ex- 
hortation. As  he  spoke  Indian  hke  a  native,  and 
as  his  voice  and  gestures  answered  to  his  words, 
we  may  beheve  what  Le  Mercier  tells  us,  that  his 
hearers  listened  wdth  mingled  wonder,  admiration, 
and  terror.  The  work  was  well  begun.  The  Jesuits 
struck  while  the  iron  was  hot,  built  a  small  chapel 
for  the  mass,  installed  themselves  in  the  town,  and 
preached  and  catechised  from  morning  till  night. 

The  Frenchmen  at  the  lake  were  not  idle.  The 
chosen  site  of  their  settlement  was  the  crown  of  a 
hill  commanding  a  broad  view  of  waters  and  forests. 
The  axemen  fell  to  their  work,  and  a  ghastly  wound 
soon  gaped  in  the  green  bosom  of  the  woodland. 
Here,  among  the  stumps  and  prostrate  trees  of  the 
unsightly  clearing,  the  blacksmith  built  his  forge, 
saw  and  hammer  plied  their  trade  ;  palisades  were 
shaped  and  beams  squared,  in  spite  of  heat,  mos- 
quitoes, and  fever.  At  one  time  tAventy  men  were 
ill,  and  lay  gasping  under  a  wretched  shed  of  bark  ; 
but  they  all  recovered,  and  the  work  went  on  til] 
at  length  a  capacious  house,  large  enough  to  hold 
the  whole  colony,  rose  above  the  ruin  of  the  forest. 
A  palisade  was  set  aroimd  it,  and  the  Mission  of 
Saint  Mary  of  Gannentaa^  was  begun. 

France  and  the  Faith  were  intrenched  on  the 
Lake  of  Onondaga.     IIow  long  would  they  remain 

1  Gannentaa  or  Ganuntaah  is  still  the  Iroquois  name  for  Lake  Onon- 
daga.    According  to  Morgan,  it  means  "  Material  for  Council  Fire." 


30  THE  JESUITS  AT  ONONDAGA.  [1G5C 

there  ?  The  future  alone  could  tell.  The  mission, 
it  must  not  be  forgotten,  had  a  double  scope, 
half  ecclesiastical,  half  political.  The  Jesuits  had 
essayed  a  fearful  task,  —  to  convert  the  Iroquois  to 
God  and  to  the  king,  thwart  the  Dutch  heretics  of 
the  Hudson,  save  souls  from  hell,  avert  ruin  from 
Canada,  and  thus  raise  their  order  to  a  place  of 
honor  and  influence  both  hard  earned  and  well 
earned.  The  mission  at  Lake  Onondaga  was  but 
a  base  of  operations.  Long  before  they  were  lodged 
and  fortified  here,  Chaumonot  and  Menard  set  out 
for  the  Cayugas,  whence  the  former  proceeded  to 
the  Senecas,  the  most  numerous  and  powerful  of 
the  five  confederate  nations ;  and  in  the  following 
spring  another  mission  was  begun  among  the  On- 
eidas.  Their  reception  was  not  unfriendly ;  but 
such  was  the  reticence  and  dissimulation  of  these 
inscrutable  savages,  that  it  was  impossible  to  fore- 
tell results.  The  women  proved,  as  might  be  ex- 
j)ected,  far  more  impressible  than  the  men ;  and  in 
them  the  fathers  placed  great  hope ;  since  in  this, 
the  most  savage  people  of  the  continent,  w^omen 
held  a  degree  of  political  influence  never  perhaps 
equalled  in  any  civilized  nation.* 

1  Women,  among  the  Iroquois,  had  a  council  of  their  own,  which, 
according  to  Lafitau,  who  knew  tliis  people  well,  had  the  initiative  in 
discussion,  subjects  presented  by  them  being  settled  in  tlie  council  of 
chiefs  and  elders.  In  this  latter  council  the  women  had  an  orator,  often, 
of  their  own  sex,  to  represent  them.  The  matrons  had  a  leading  voice  in 
determining  the  succession  of  chiefs.  There  were  also  female  cliiefs,  one 
of  whom,  with  her  attendants,  came  to  Quebec  with  an  embassy  in  1655 
(Marie  de  I'Incamation).  In  the  torture  of  prisoners,  great  deference 
was  paid  to  the  judgment  of  the  women,  who,  says  Champlain,  were 
thought  more  skilful  and  subtle  than  the  men. 

The  learned  Lafitau,  whose  book  appeared  in  1724,  dwells  at  length 


1657.]  JESUIT   COURAGE.  3] 

But  while  infants  were  baptized  and  squaws  con- 
verted, the  crosses  of  the  mission  were  many  and 
(^reat.  The  devil  bestirred  himself  with  more  than 
his  ordinary  activity ;  "  for,"  as  one  of  the  fathers 
writes,  "  when  in  sundry  nations  of  the  earth  men 
are  rising  up  in  strife  against  us  (the  Jesuits),  tlien 
how  much  more  the  demons,  on  wdiom  we  con- 
tinually wage  war ! "  It  was  these  infernal  sprites, 
as  the  priests  believed,  who  engendered  suspicions 
and  calumnies  in  the  dark  and  superstitious  minds 
of  the  Iroquois,  and  prompted  them  in  dreams  to 
destroy  the  apostles  of  the  faith.  Whether  the 
foe  was  of  earth  or  hell,  the  Jesuits  were  like  those 
who  tread  the  lava-crust  that  palpitates  with  the 
throes  of  the  coming  eruption,  while  the  molten 
death  beneath  their  feet  glares  white-hot  through 
a  thousand  crevices.  Yet,  with  a  sublime  enthu- 
siasm and  a  glorious  constancy,  they  toiled  and 
they  hoped,  though  the  skies  around  were  black 
with  portent. 

In  the  year  in  which  the  colony  at  Onondaga 
was  begun,  the  Mohawks  murdered  the  Jesuit  Gar- 
reau,  on  his  way  up  the  Ottawa.  In  the  following 
spring,  a  hundred  Mohawk  w\arriors  came  to  Quebec, 
to  carry  more  of  the  Hurons  into  slavery,  though 
the  remnant  of  that  unhappy  people,  since  the 
catastrophe  of  the  last  year,  had  sought  safety  in  a 

on  the  resemblance  of  the  Iroquois  to  the  ancient  Lycians,  among  whom, 
according  to  Grecian  writers,  women  were  in  tiie  ascendant.  "  Gynecoc- 
racy,  or  the  rule  of  women,"  continues  Lafitau,  "  which  was  the  founda- 
tion of  the  Lycian  government,  was  probably  common  in  early  times  to 
nearly  all  the  barbarous  people  of  Greece."  Mcsurs  des  Salvages,  I.  460 
(ed.  in  4to) 


32  THE  JESUITS  AT   ONONDAGA.  [1657, 

palisaded  camp  within  the  limits  of  the  French 
town,  and  immediately  under  the  ramparts  of  Fort 
St.  Louis,  Here,  one  might  think,  they  would 
have  been  safe ;  but  Cliarny,  son  and  successor  of 
Lauson,  seems  to  have  been  even  more  imbecile 
than  his  father,  and  listened  meekly  to  the  threats 
of  the  insolent  strangers  who  told  him  that  unless 
he  abandoned  the  Hurons  to  their  mercy,  both  they 
and  the  French  should  feel  the  weight  of  Mohawd\ 
tomahawks.  They  demanded  further,  that  the 
French  should  give  them  boats  to  carry  their 
prisoners ;  but,  as  there  were  none  at  hand,  this 
last  humiliation  was  spared.  The  Mohawks  were 
forced  to  make  canoes,  in  which  they  carried  off  as 
many  as  possible  of  their  victims. 

When  the  Onondagas  learned  this  last  exploit  of 
their  rivals,  their  jealousy  knew  no  bounds,  and  a 
troop  of  them  descended  to  Quebec  to  claim  their 
share  in  the  human  plunder.  Deserted  by  the 
French,  the  despairing  Hurons  abandoned  them- 
selves to  their  fate,  and  about  fifty  of  those  whom 
the  Mohawks  had  left  obeyed  the  behest  of  their 
tyrants  and  embarked  for  Onondaga.  They  reached 
Montreal  in  July,  and  thence  proceeded  towards 
their  destination  in  company  wdth  the  Onondaga 
warriors.  The  Jesuit  Ragueneau,  bound  also  for 
Onondaga,  joined  them.  Five  leagues  above  Mon- 
treal, the  warriors  left  him  behind ;  but  he  found 
an  old  canoe  on  the  bank,  in  which,  after  abandon- 
ing most  of  his  baggage,  he  contrived  to  follow 
Avith  two  or  three  Frenchmen  w^ho  were  with  him. 
There  was  a  rumor  that  a  hundred  Mohawk  war- 


1657.]  ONONDAGA  TREACHERY.  33 

riors  were  lying  in  wait  among  the  Thousand 
Islands,  to  plunder  the  Onondagas  of  their  Huron 
prisoners.  It  proved  a  false  report.  A  speedier 
catastrophe  awaited  these  unfortunates. 

Towards  evening  on  the  3d  of  August,  after  the 
party  had  landed  to  encamp,  an  Onondaga  chief 
made  advances  to  a  Christian  Huron  girl,  as  he  had 
already  done  at  every  encampment  since  leaving 
Montreal.  Being  repulsed  for  the  fourth  time,  he 
split  her  head  with  his  tomahawk.  It  was  the 
beginning  of  a  massacre.  The  Onondagas  rose 
upon  their  prisoners,  killed  seven  men,  all  Chris- 
tians, before  the  eyes  of  the  horrified  Jesuit,  and 
plundered  the  rest  of  all  they  had.  When  Rague- 
neau  protested,  they  told  him  with  insolent  mockery 
that  they  were  acting  by  direction  of  the  governor 
and  the  superior  of  the  Jesuits  The  priest  him- 
self was  secretly  warned  that  he  was  to  be  killed 
during  the  night ;  and  he  was  surprised  in  the 
morning  to  find  himself  alive. ^  On  reaching  Onon- 
daga, some  of  the  Christian  captives  were  burned, 
including  several  women  and  their  infant  chil- 
dren.^ 

The  confederacy  was  a  hornet's  nest,  buzzing 
with  preparation,  and  fast  pouring  out  its  wrathful 
swarms.  The  indomitable  Le  Moyne  had  gone  again 
to  the  Mohawks,  whence  he  wrote  that  two  hundred 
of  them  had  taken  the  war-path  against  the  Algon- 
quins  of  Canada ;  and,  a  little  later,  that  all  Avcre 
g(me  but  women,  children,  and  old  men.     A  great 

1  lA'tlre  de  Raqncnean  au  R.  P.  Provincial,  9  Aout,  1657  (ReL,  1657). 
»  Ibid.,  21  Aaut,  1658  (ReL,  1658). 

3 


34  THE  JESUITS   AT  ONONDAGA.  [1657 

war-party  of  twelve  hundred  Iroquois  from  all 
the  five  cantons  was  to  advance  into  Canada  in  the 
direction  of  the  Ottawa.  The  settlements  on  the 
St.  Lawrence  Avere  infested  with  prowling  warriors, 
who  killed  the  Indian  allies  of  the  French,  and 
plundered  the  French  themselves,  whom  they 
treated  with  an  insufferable  insolence  ;  for  they 
felt  themselves  masters  of  the  situation,  and  knew 
that  the  Onondaga  colony  was  in  their  power.  Near 
Montreal  they  killed  three  Frenchmen.  "  They 
approach  like  foxes,"  writes  a  Jesuit,  "  attack  like 
lions,  and  disappear  like  birds."  Charny,  fortu- 
nately, had  resigned  the  government  in  despair,  in 
order  to  turn  priest,  and  the  brave  soldier  Aille- 
bout  had  taken  his  place.  He  caused  twelve  of 
the  Iroquois  to  be  seized  and  held  as  hostages. 
This  seemed  to  increase  their  iwry.  An  embassy 
came  to  Quebec  and  demanded  the  release  of  the 
hostages,  but  were  met  mth  a  sharp  reproof  and  a 
flat  refusal. 

At  the  mission  on  Lake  Onondas^a  the  crisis 
was  drawing  near.  The  unbridled  young  warriors, 
whose  capricious  lawlessness  often  set  at  naught 
the  monitions  of  their  crafty  elders,  Ivilled  wantonly 
at  various  times  thirteen  Christian  Hurons,  cap- 
tives at  Onondaga.  Ominous  reports  reached  the 
ears  of  the  colonists.  They  heard  of  a  secret  council 
at  which  their  death  was  decreed.  Again,  they 
heard  that  they  were  to  be  surprised  and  captured, 
that  the  Iroquois  in  force  were  then  to  descend 
upon  Canada,  lay  waste  the  outlying  settlements, 
and  torture  them,  the  colonists,  in  sijilit  of  their 


1658  1  FRIGHTFUL   POSITION.  35 

countryraen,  by  which  they  hoped  to  extort  what 
terms  they  pleased.  At  length,  a  dymg  Onondaga, 
recently  converted  and  baptized,  confirmed  the 
rumors,  and  revealed  the  whole  plot. 

It  was  to  take  effect  before  the  spring  opened ; 
but  the  hostages  in  the  hands  of  Aillebout  em- 
barrassed the  conspirators  and  caused  delay.  Mes- 
sengers were  sent  in  haste  to  call  in  the  priests 
from  the  detached  missions,  and  all  the  colonists, 
fiftv-thrce  in  number,  were  soon  arathered  at  their 
fortified  house  on  the  lake.  Their  situation  was 
frightful.  Fate  hung  over  them  by  a  hair,  and 
escape  seemed  hopeless.  Of  Du  Puys's  ten  soldiers, 
nine  wished  to  desert,  but  the  attempt  w^ould  have 
been  fatal.  A  throng  of  Onondaga  warriors  were 
rlay  and  night  on  the  watch,  bivouacked  around 
the  house.  Some  of  them  had  built  their  huts  of 
bark  before  the  gate,  and  here,  with  calm,  impas- 
sive faces,  they  lounged  and  smoked  their  pipes ; 
or,  Avrapped  in  their  blankets,  strolled  about  the 
yards  and  outhouses,  attentive  to  all  that  passed. 
Their  behavior  was  very  friendly.  The  Jesuits, 
themselves  adepts  in  dissimulation,  were  amazed  at 
the  depth  of  their  duplicity;  for  the  conviction  had 
been  forced  upon  them  that  some  of  the  chiefs  had 
nursed  their  treachery  from  the  first.  In  this  ex- 
tremity Du  Puys  and  the  Jesuits  showed  an  admi- 
rable coolness,  and  among  them  devised  a  plan  of 
escape,  critical  and  full  of  doubt,  but  not  devoid 
of  hope. 

First,  they  must  provide  means  of  transporta- 
tion ;  next,  they  must  contrive  to  use  them  undis- 


36  THE  JESUITS   AT   ONONDAGA.  |1658. 

covered.  They  had  eight  canoes,  all  of  which 
combined  would  not  hold  half  their  company. 
Over  the  mission-house  was  a  large  loft  or  garret, 
and  here  the  carpenters  were  secretly  set  at  work 
to  construct  two  large  and  light  flat-boats,  each 
capable  of  carrying  fifteen  men.  The  task  was 
soon  finished.  The  most  difficult  part  of  their  plan 
remained. 

There  was  a  beastly  superstition  prevalent  among 
the  Hurons,  the  Iroquois,  and  other  tribes.  It  con- 
sisted of  a  "  medicine  "  or  mystic  feast,  in  which  it 
was  essential  that  the  guests  should  devour  every 
tlung  set  before  them,  however  inordinate  in  quan- 
tity, unless  absolved  from  duty  by  the  person  in 
whose  behaK  the  solemnity  was  ordained ;  he,  on 
liis  part,  taking  no  share  in  the  banquet.  So  grave 
was  the  obligation,  and  so  strenuously  did  the 
guests  fulfil  it,  that  even  their  ostrich  digestion 
was  sometimes  ruined  past  redemj)tion  by  the 
excess  of  tuis  benevolent  gluttony.  These  festins 
a  manger  tout  had  been  frequently  denounced  as 
diabolical  by  the  Jesuits,  during  their  mission 
among  the  Hurons ;  but  now,  with  a  pliancy  of 
conscience  as  excusable  in  tliis  case  as  in  an}' 
other,  they  resolved  to  set  aside  their  scruples, 
although,  judged  from  their  point  of  view,  they 
were  exceedingly  well  founded. 

Anion  2,  the  French  was  a  vounsr  man  who  had 

O  I/O 

been  adopted  by  an  Iroquois  cliief,  and  who  spoke 
the  language  fluently.  He  now  told  his  Indian 
father  that  it  had  been  revealed  to  him  in  a  dream 
that   he  would    soon  die  unless  the  spirits  were 


J 658.]  THE   MEDICINE   FEAST.  37 

appeased  by  one  of  these  magic  feasts.  Dreams 
were  the  oracles  of  the  Iroquois,  and  woe  to  those 
who  shghted  them.  A  day  was  named  for  the 
sacred  festivity.  The  fathers  killed  their  hogs  to 
meet  the  occasion,  and,  that  nothing  might  be 
wanting,  they  ransacked  their  stores  for  all  that 
might  give  piquancy  to  the  entertainment.  It 
took  place  in  the  evening  of  the  20th  of  March, 
apparently  in  a  large  enclosure  outside  the  palisade 
surrounding  the  mission-house.  Here,  while  blazing 
fires  or  glaring  pine-knots  shed  their  glow  on  the 
wild  assemblage,  Frenchmen  and  Iroquois  joined  iii 
the  dance,  or  vied  with  each  other  in  games  of 
agility  and  skill.  The  politic  fathers  offered  prizes 
to  the  winners,  and  the  Indians  entered  with  zest 
into  the  sport,  the  better,  perhaps,  to  hide  their 
treachery  and  hoodwink  their  intended  victims; 
for  they  little  suspected  that  a  subtlety,  deeper 
this  time  than  their  own,  was  at  work  to  counter- 
mine them.  Here,  too,  were  the  French  musicians ; 
and  drum,  trumpet,  and  cymbal  lent  their  clangor 
to  the  din  of  shouts  and  laughter.  Thus  the  even- 
ing wore  on,  till  at  length  the  serious  labors  of  the 
feast  began.  The  kettles  were  brought  in,  and 
their  steaming  contents  ladled  into  the  wooden 
bowls  which  each  provident  guest  had  brought 
with  him.  Seated  gravely  in  a  ring,  they  fell  to 
their  work.  It  was  a  point  of  high  conscience  not 
to  flinch  from  duty  on  these  solemn  occasions ;  and 
though  they  might  burn  the  young  man  to-morrow, 
they  would  gorge  themselves  like  vultures  in  his 
behoof  to-day. 


38  THE  JESUITS   AT   02C0NDAGA.  [165a 

Meantime,  while  the  musicians  strained  their 
lungs  and  their  arms  to  drown  all  other  sounds, 
a  band  of  anxious  Frenchmen,  in  the  darkness  of 
the  cloudy  night,  with  cautious  tread  and  bated 
breath,  carried  the  boats  from  the  rear  of  the  mis- 
sion-house down  to  the  border  of  the  lake.  It  was 
near  eleven  o'clock.  The  miserable  guests  ^^ere 
choking  with  repletion.  They  prayed  the  }'oung 
Frenchman  to  dispense  them  from  further  surfeit. 
"  Will  you  suffer  me  to  die  ?  "  he  asked,  in  piteous 
tones.  They  bent  to  their  task  again,  but  Nature 
soon  reached  her  utmost  limit ;  and  they  sat  help- 
less as  a  conventicle  of  gorged  turkey-buzzards, 
without  the  power  possessed  by  those  unseemly 
birds  to  rid  themselves  of  the  burden.  "  That  w^ill 
do,"  said  the  young  man ;  "  you  have  eaten  enough ; 
m}^  life  is  saved.  Now  you  can  sleep  till  we  come 
in  the  morning  to  weaken  you  for  prayers."^  And 
one  of  his  companions  played  soft  airs  on  a  violin 
to  lull  them  to  repose.  Soon  all  were  asleep,  or 
in  a  lethargy  akin  to  sleep.  The  few  remaining 
Frenchmen  now  silently  withdrew  and  cautiously 
descended  to  the  shore,  ^vhere  their  comrades,  al- 
ready embarked,  lay  on  their  oars  anxiously  await- 
ing them.  Snow  was  falling  fast  as  they  pushed 
out  upon  the  murky  waters.  The  ice  of  the  winter 
had  broken  up,  but  recent  frosts  had  glazed  the 
surface  with  a  thin  crust.  The  two  boats  led  the 
way,  and  the  canoes  followed  in  their  wake,  while 
men  in  the  bows  of  the  foremost  boat  broke  the 
ice  with  clubs  as  they  advanced.     They  reached 

1  iMtre  de  Marie  de  V Incarnation  a  son  Jjls,  4  Octobre,  1G58. 


1658.J  PEIirLEXITY   OF   THE   IROQUOIS.  89 

the  outlet  and  rowed  swiftly  down  the  dark  cur- 
rent of  the  Oswego.  When  day  broke,  Lake  Onon- 
daga was  far  behind,  and  around  them  w^as  the 
leafless,  lifeless  forest. 

When  the  Indians  woke  in  the  morning,  dull  anc 
stupefied  from  their  nightmare  slumbers,  they  were 
aslonished  at  the  silence  that  reigned  in  the  mission- 
house.  They  looked  through  the  palisade.  Noth- 
ing was  stirring  but  a  bevy  of  hens  clucking  and 
scratching  in  the  snow,  and  one  or  tw^o  dogs  im- 
prisoned in  the  house  and  barking  to  be  set  free 
The  Indians  waited  for  some  time,  then  climbed 
the  palisade,  burst  in  the  doors,  and  found  tlie 
house  empty.  Their  amazement  was  unbounded. 
How,  without  canoes,  could  the  French  have  es- 
caped by  water  ?  and  how  else  could  they  escape  ? 
The  snow  which  had  fallen  durmg  the  night  com- 
pletely hid  their  footsteps.  A  superstitious  awe 
seized  the  Iroquois.  They  thought  that  the  ^'  black- 
robes  "  and  their  flock  had  flown  off  through  the 
air. 

Meanwhile  the  fugitives  pushed  their  flight  with 
the  energy  of  terror,  passed  in  safety  the  rapids 
of  the  Oswego,  crossed  Lake  Ontario,  and  de- 
scended the  St.  Lawrence  with  the  loss  of  three 
men  drowmed  in  the  rapids.  On  the  3d  of  April 
they  reached  Montreal,  and  on  the  23d  arrived  at 
Quebec.  They  had  saved  their  lives ;  but  the  mis- 
sion of  Onondaga  was  a  miserable  failure.^ 

1  On  tlie  Onondaga  mission,  the  authorities  are  Marie  de  I'lncama- 
tion,  Letlres  Tlistoriqnes,  and  Relations  des  J^suites,  1657  and  1658,  wliero 
the  story  is  told  at  length,  accompanied  with  several  interesting  letters 
and  journals.     Chaumouot,  in   his  Autobiogvaphie,   speaks   only  of   the 


40  THE  JESUITS   AT  ONONDAGA.  [1G58. 

Seneca  mission,  and  refers  to  tlie  Relations  for  the  rest.  Dollier  de  Cas- 
son,  in  his  llisloire  du  Montreal,  mentions  tlie  arrival  of  tlie  fugitives  at 
that  place,  tlie  sight  of  whicli,  he  adds  complacently,  cured  tliem  of  their 
fright.  The  Journal  des  Sup€rieurs  des  Je'suites  chronicles  with  its  usual 
brevity  the  ruin  of  tlie  mission  and  the  return  of  the  party  to  Quebec. 

The  Jesuits,  in  their  account,  say  nothing  of  the  superstitious  charac 
ter  of  tlie  feast.  It  is  Marie  de  I'lncarnation  who  lets  out  tlie  secret. 
The  Jesuit  Charlevoix,  much  to  his  credit,  repeats  the  story  without 
reserve. 

The  Sulpitian 'Allet,  in  a  memoir  printed  in  the  Morale  Pratirjue  des 
./^suites,  says  that  the  French  placed  efiigies  of  soldiers,  made  of  straw,  in 
the  fort,  to  deceive  the  Indians.  He  adds  that  the  Jesuits  found  very 
little  sympathy  at  Quebec. 


CHAPTER    n. 

1642-1661. 

THE    HOLY    WARS    OF    MONTREAL. 

DAUVERSii:RE.  —  Mance  and  Bodrgeots.  —  Miracle.  —  A  Pious  De- 
faulter.—  Jesuit  and  Solpitian.  —  Montreal  in  1G5'J.  —  Tub 
Hospital  Nuns.  —  The  Nuns  and  the  Iroquois.  —  More  Mir- 
acles.—  The  Murdered  Priests.  —  Brigeac  and  Closse. — 
Soldiers  of  tue  Holt  Family. 

On  the  2d  of  July,  1659,  the  ship  "  St.  Andre  " 
lay  in  the  harbor  of  Rochelle,  crowded  with  pas- 
sengers for  Canada.  She  had  served  two  years  as 
a  hospital  for  marines,  and  was  infected  with  a 
contagious  fever.  Including  the  crew,  some  two 
hundred  persons  were  on  board,  more  than  half  of 
whom  were  bound  for  Montreal.  Most  of  these 
were  sturdy  laborers,  artisans,  peasants,  and  sol- 
diers, together  with  a  troop  of  young  women,  their 
present  or  future  partners ;  a  portion  of  the  com- 
pany set  down  on  the  old  record  as  "  sixty  virtu- 
ous men  and  thirty-two  pious  girls."  There  were 
two  priests  also,  Vignal  and  Le  Maitre,  both  des-' 
tined  to  a  speedy  death  at  the  hands  of  the  Iro- 
quois. But  the  most  conspicuous  among  these 
passengers  for  Montreal  were  two  groups  of  women 
in  the  habit  of  nuns,  under  the  direction  of  Mar- 


42  THE  HOLY   WARS  OF  MONTREAL.  [1659 

guerite  Bourgeoys  and  Jeanne  Mance.  Marguerite  ^ 
Bourgeojs,  whose  kind,  womanly  face  bespoke  her  / 
fitness  for  the  task,  was  foundress  of  the  school  for 
female  children  at  Montreal ;  her  companion,  a 
lall,  austere  figure,  worn  with  suffering  and  care, 
was  directress  of  the  hosj)ital.  Both  had  returned 
to  France  for  aid,  and  were  now  on  their  way  hack, 
each  with  three  recruits,  three  being  the  mystic 
number,  as  a  type  of  the  Holy  Family,  to  whose 
worship  they  were  especially  devoted. 

Amid  the  bustle  of  departure,  the  shouts  of  sail- 
ors, the  rattling  of  cordage,  the  flapping  of  sails, 
the  tears  and  the  embracings,  an  elderly  man,  with 
heavy  plebeian  features,  sallow  with  disease,  and  in 
a  sober,  half-clerical  dress,  ajDproached  Mademoi- 
selle Mance  and  her  three  nuns,  and,  turning  his 
eyes  to  heaven,  spread  his  hands  over  them  in 
benediction.  It  was  Le  Royer  de  la  Dauversiere, 
founder  of  the  sisterhood  of  St.  Joseph,  to  which 
the  three  nuns  belonged.  "  Now,  0  Lord,"  he  ex- 
claimed, with  the  look  of  one  whose  mission  on 
^arth  is  fulfilled,  "  permit  thou  thy  servant  to  de- 
part in  peace ! " 

Sister  Maillet,  who  had  charge  of  the  meagre 
treasury  of  the  community,  thought  that  some- 
thing more  than  a  blessing  was  due  from  him ; 
and  asked  where  she  should  apply  for  payment  of 
the  interest  of  the  twenty  thousand  livres  which 
Mademoiselle  Mance  had  placed  in  his  hands  for 
investment.  Dauversiere  changed  countenance, 
and  replied,  with  a  troubled  voice  :  "  My  daughter, 
God  will  provide  for  you.     Place  your  trust  in 


1G42-57.]  MANCE  AND  BOURGEOYS.  43 

Him."^  He  was  bankrupt,  and  had  ased  the 
money  of  the  sisterhood  to  pay  a  debt  of  his  own, 
leaving  the  nims  penniless. 

I  have  related  in  another  place  ^  how  an  associa- 
tion of  devotees,  inspired,  as  the}''  supposed,  from 
heaven,  had  undertaken  to  found  a  religious  col- 
ony at  Montreal  in  honor  of  the  Holy  Family. 
The  essentials  of  the  proposed  establishment  were 
to  be  a  seminary  of  priests  dedicated  to  the  Virgin, 
a  hospital  to  Saint  Joseph,  and  a  school  to  the  Infant 
Jesns ;  while  a  settlement  was  to  be  formed  around 
them  simply  for  their  defence  and  maintenance. 
Tliis  pious  purpose  had  in  part  been  accomplished. 
It  was  seventeen  years  since  Mademoiselle  Mance 
had  begun  her  labors  in  honor  of  Saint  Joseph.  Mar- 
guerite Bourgeoys  had  entered  upon  hers  more 
recently ;  yet  even  then  the  attempt  was  prema- 
ture, for  she  found  no  white  children  to  teach.  In 
time,  however,  tliis  want  was  supplied,  and  she 
opened  her  school  in  a  stable,  which  answered  to 
the  stable  of  Betlilehem,  lodging  with  her  pupils 
in  the  loft,  and  instructing  them  in  Eoman  Cath- 
olic Christianity,  with  such  rudiments  of  mundane 
knowledge  as  she  and  her  advisers  thought  fit  to 
impart. 

Mademoiselle  Mance  foimd  no  lack  of  hospital 
work,  for  blood  and  blows  were  rife  at  Montreal, 
where  the  woods  were  full  of  Iroquois,  and  not  a 
moment  was  without  its  peril.     Though  years  be- 


^  Eaillon,  Vie  de  HPUe  Mance,  I.  172.     This  volume  is  illustrated  witV 
a  portrait  of  Dauversicre. 

2  The  Jesuits  in  Nortli  America. 


44  THE  HOLY  WARS  OF  MONTREAL.  [1658 

gan  to  tell  upon  lier,  she  toiled  patiently  at  her 
drearj'-  task,  till,  in  the  winter  of  1657,  she  fell  on 
the  ice  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  broke  her  right  arm, 
and  dislocated  the  wrist.  Bonchard,  the  surgeon 
of  Montreal,  set  the  broken  bones,  but  did  not 
discover  the  dislocation.  The  arm  in  consequence 
became  totally  useless,  and  her  health  wasted  away 
under  incessant  and  violent  pain.  Maisonneuve, 
the  civil  and  military  cliief  of  the  settlement,  ad- 
vised her  to  go  to  France  for  assistance  in  the  work 
to  which  she  was  no  longer  equal ;  and  Marguerite 
Bourgeoys,  whose  pupils,  white  and  red,  had  greatly 
multiplied,  resolved  to  go  with  her  for  a  similar  ob- 
ject. They  set  out  in  September,  1658,  landed  at 
Eochelle,  and  went  thence  to  Paris.  Here  they 
repaired  to  the  seminary  of  St.  Sulpice ;  for  the 
priests  of  this  community  were  joined  vdth.  them 
in  the  work  at  Montreal,  of  which  they  were  after- 
wards to  become  the  feudal  ^Droprietors. 

Now  ensued  a  wonderful  event,  if  we  may  trust 
the  evidence  of  sundry  devout  persons.  Olier,  the 
founder  of  St.  Sulpice,  had  lately  died,  and  the  two 
pilgrims  would  fain  pay  their  homage  to  his  heart, 
which  the  priests  of  liis  community  kept  as  a*  pre- 
cious relic,  enclosed  in  a  leaden  box.  The  box  was 
brought,  when  the  thought  inspired  Mademoiselle 
Mance  to  try  its  miraculous  efficacy  and  invoke  the 
intercession  of  the  departed  founder.  She  did  so, 
touching  her  disabled  arm  gently  ^Yith.  the  leaden 
casket.  Instantly  a  grateful  warmth  pervaded  the 
shrivelled  limb,  and  from  that  hour  its  use  was 
restored.     It  is  true  that  the  Jesuits  ventured  to 


1658-59.1  THE  UNKNOWN  BENEFACTRESS.  45 

doubt  the  Sulpitian  miracle,  and  even  to  lidicule 
it ;  but  the  Sulpitians  will  show  to  this  day  the  at- 
testation of  Mademoiselle  Mance  herself,  written 
with  the  fingers  once  paralyzed  and  powerless.^ 
Nevertheless,  the  cure  was  not  so  thorough  as  to 
permit  her  again  to  take  charge  of  her  patients. 

Her  next  care  was  to  visit  Madame  de  Bullion, 
a  devout  lady  of  great  wealth,  who  was  usually 
designated  at  Montreal  as  "  the  unknown  benefac- 
tress," because,  though  her  charities  were  the  main- 
stay of  the  feeble  colony,  and  though  the  source 
from  which  they  proceeded  was  Avell  known,  she 
affected,  in  the  interest  of  humility,  the  greatesi 
secrecy,  and  required  those  who  profited  by  hei 
gifts  to  pretend  ignorance  whence  they  came. 
Overflowing  with  zeal  for  the  pious  enterprise,  she 
received  her  visitor  with  enthusiasm,  lent  an  open 
ear  to  her  recital,  responded  graciously  to  her  ap- 
peal for  aid,  and  paid  over  to  her  the  sum,  mimifi- 
cent  at  that  day,  of  twenty- two  thousand  francs. 
Thus  far  successful.  Mademoiselle  Mance  repaired 
to  the  town  of  La  Fleche  to  visit  Le  Royer  de  la 
Dauversiere. 

It  was  this  ^NTetched  fanatic  who,  through  \nsions 
and  revelations,  had  first  conceived  the  plan  of  a 
hospital  in  honor  of  Saint  Joseph  at  Montreal.^  He 
had  found  in  Mademoiselle  Mance  a  zealous  and 
efficient  pioneer ;  but  the  execution  of  his  scheme 
required  a  community  of  hospital  nuns,  and  there 

1  For  an  account  of  this  miracle,  written  in  perfect  good  faith  and 
supported  hy  various  attestations,  see  Faillon,  Vie  de  M'lle  Mancx,  chap,  i" 

2  See  The  Jesuits  in  North  America. 


4G  THE   nOLY   WAllS   OF  MONTREAL.  [1659. 

fore  lie  had  labored  for  the  last  eighteen  years  to 
form  one  at  La  Fleche,  meaning  to  despatch  its 
members  in  due  time  to  Canada.  The  time  at  length 
was  come.  Three  of  the  nuns  were  chosen,  Sisters 
Bresoles,  Mace,  and  Maillet,  and  sent  under  the 
escort  of  certain  pious  gentlemen  to  Rochelle. 
Their  exit  from  La  Fleche  was  not  without  its 
difficulties.  Dauversiere  was  in  ill  odor,  not  only 
from  the  multiplicity  of  his  debts,  but  because,  in 
his  character  of  agent  of  the  association  of  Mon- 
treal, he  had  at  various  times  sent  thither  those 
whom  his  biographer  describes  as  "  the  most  virtu- 
ous girls  to  be  found  at  La  Fleche,"  intoxicating 
iliem  with  religious  excitement,  and  shipping  them 
for  the  New  World  against  the  wdll  of  their  parents, 
it  w\as  noised  throuQ-h  the  town  that  he  had  kid- 

O 

napped  and  sold  them ;  and  now  the  report  spread 
abroad  that  he  was  about  to  crown  his  iniquity  by 
\iring  away  three  young  nuns.  A  mob  gathered 
at  the  convent  gate,  and  the  escort  were  forced  to 
draw  their  swords  to  open  a  way  for  the  terrified 
sisters. 

Of  the  twenty-two  thousand  francs  which  she  had 
received,  Mademoiselle  Mance  kept  two  thousand 
for  immediate  needs,  and  confided  the  rest  to  the 
hands  of  Dauversiere,  who,  hard  pressed  by  his 
creditors,  used  it  to  pay  one  of  his  debts;  and 
then,  to  his  horror,  found  himseK  unable  to  replace 
it.  Racked  by  the  gout  and  tormented  by  re- 
morse, he  betook  himself  to  his  bed  in  a  state  of 
body  and  mind  truly  23itiable.  One  of  the  miracles, 
KO  frequent  in  the  early  annals  of  Montreal,  was 


1659. 1  DELAY  AND   DIFFICULTY.  47 

vouch safed  in  answer  to  his  prayer,  and  he  was 
enabled  to  journey  to  Rochelle  and  bid  farewell  to 
his  nuns.  It  was  but  a  brief  respite  ;  he  returned 
home  to  become  the  prey  of  a  host  of  maladies,  and 
to  die  at  last  a  lingering  and  painful  death. 

While  Mademoiselle  Mance  was  gaining  recruits 
in  La  Fleche,  Marguerite  Bourgeoys  was  no  less 
successful  in  her  native  town  of  Troyes,  and  she 
rejoined  her  companions  at  Eochelle,  accompanied 
by  Sisters  Chatel,  Crolo,  and  Raisin,  her  destined 
assistants  in  the  school  at  Montreal.  Meanwhile, 
tlie  Sulpitians  and  others  interested  in  the  pious 
enterprise,  had  spared  no  effort  to  gather  men  to 
strengthen  the  colony,  and  young  women  to  serve 
as  their  wives ;  and  all  were  now  mustered  at 
Rochelle,  waiting  for  embarkation.  Their  wait- 
ing was  a  long  one.  Laval,  bishop  at  Quebec,  was 
allied  to  the  Jesuits,  and  looked  on  the  colonists 
of  Montreal  with  more  than  coldness.  Sulpitian 
writers  say  that  his  agents  used  every  effort  to 
discourage  them,  and  that  certain  persons  at  Ro- 
chelle told  the  master  of  the  ship  in  which  the 
emigrants  Avere  to  sail  that  they  were  not  to  be 
trusted  to  pay  their  passage-money.  Hereupon 
ensued  a  delay  of  more  than  two  months  before 
means  could  be  found  to  quiet  the  scruples  of  tlie 
prudent  commander.  At  length  the  anchor  was 
weighed,  and  the  dreary  voyage  begun. 

The  woe-begone  company,  crowded  in  the  filthy 
and  infected  ship,  were  tossed  for  two  months  more 
on  the  relentless  sea,  buffeted  by  repeated  stonns 
and  wasted  by  a  contagious  fever,  which  attacked 


48  THE  HOLY  wars  of  Montreal.  [icgo. 

nearly  all  of  them  and  reduced  Mademoiselle  Mance 
to  extremity.  Eight  or  ten  died  and  were  dro})ped 
overboard,  after  a  prayer  from  the  two  priests.  At 
length  land  hove  in  sight ;  the  piny  odors  of  the 
forest  regaled  their  languid  senses  as  they  sailed 
up  the  broad  estuary  of  the  St.  Lawrence  and 
anchored  under  the  rock  of  Quebec. 

High  aloft,  on  the  brink  of  the  cliff,  they  saw 
the  Jleitr-de-lis  waving  above  the  fort  of  St.  Louis, 
and,  beyond,  the  cross  on  the  tower  of  the  cathe- 
dral traced  against  the  sky ;  the  houses  of  the  mer- 
chants on  the  strand  below,  and  boats  and  canoes 
drawn  up  along  the  bank.  The  bishop  and  the 
Jesuits  greeted  them  as  co-workers  in  a  holy  cause, 
with  an  unction  not  wholly  sincere.  Though  a 
unit  against  heresy,  the  pious  founders  of  New 
France  were  far  from  unity  among  themselves. 
To  the  thinking  of  the  Jesuits,  Montreal  w^as  a 
government  within  a  government,  a  wheel  within 
a  wheel.  This  rival  Sidpitian  settlement  was,  in 
their  eyes,  an  element  of  disorganization  adverse 
to  the  disciplined  harmony  of  the  Canadian  Church, 
which  they  would  fain  have  seon,  with  its  focus  at 
Quebec,  radiating  light  unrefracted  to  the  utter- 
most j)arts  of  the  colony.  That  is  to  say,  they 
wished  to  control  it  unchecked,  through  their  ally, 
the  bishop. 

The  emigrants,  then,  were  received  with  a  studi- 
ous courtesy,  which  veiled  but  thinly  a  stiff  and 
persistent  opposition.  The  bishop  and  the  Jesuits 
were  especially  anxious  to  prevent  the  La  Fleche 
nuns   from  establishing  themselves   at   Montreal, 


1659]  MONTREAL  49 

where  they  would  form  a  separate  community, 
under  Sulpitian  influence ;  and,  in  place  of  the 
newly  arrived  sisters,  they  wished  to  substitute 
nuns  from  the  Hotel  Dieu  of  Quebec,  who  would 
be  under  their  own  control.  That  which  most 
strikes  the  non-Catholic  reader  throughout  this 
affair  is  the  constant  reticence  and  dissimulation 
practised,  not  only  between  Jesuits  and  Montreal- 
ists,  but  among  the  Montrealists  themselves.  Their 
self-devotion,  great  as  it  was,  was  fairly  matched 
by  their  disingenuousness.^ 

All  difhculties  being  overcome,  the  Montrealists 
embarked  in  boats  and  ascended  the  St.  Lawrence, 
leaving  Quebec  infected  with  the  contagion  they 
had  brought.  The  journey  now  made  in  a  single 
night  cost  them  fifteen  days  of  hardship  and 
danger.  At  length  they  reached  their  new  home. 
The  little  settlement  lay  before  them,  still  gasping 
betwixt  life  and  death,  in  a  puny,  precarious  in- 
fancy. Some  forty  small,  .compact  houses  were 
ranged  parallel  to  the  river,  chiefly  along  the  line 
of  what  is  now  St.  Paul's  Street.  On  the  left  there 
was  a  fort,  and  on  a  rising  groimd  at  the  right  a 
massive  windmill  of  stone,  enclosed  with  a  wall  or 
palisade  pierced  for  musketry,  and  answering  the 
purpose  of  a  redoubt  or  block-house.^  Fields, 
studded  with  charred  and  blackened  stumps,  be- 

•  Bee,  for  example,  cliapter  iv.  of  Faillon's  Life  of  Mademoiselle 
Mance.  The  evidence  is  unanswerable,  the  writer  being  the  partisan 
and  admirer  of  most  of  those  whose  piense  tromperie,  to  nse  the  expression 
of  Dollier  de  Casson,  he  describes  in  apparent  unconsciousness  that  any- 
body will  SCO  reason  to  cavil  at  it. 

*  Tiptireda  Vicomte  d'Argenson,  Gouvcrncur  du  Canada,  'i  Aoi'd,  1G69,  MS 

■I 


50        THE  HOLT  WARS  OF  MONTREAL.    [1657-61. 

twecn  wliicli  crops  were  growing,  stretched  away 
to  the  edges  of  the  bordering  forest;  and  the 
green,  shaggy  back  of  the  mountain  towered 
over  alL 

There  were  at  this  time  a  hundred  and  sixty 
men  at  Montreal,  about  fifty  of  whom  had  families, 
or  at  least  wives.  They  greeted  the  new-comers 
with  a  welcome  which,  this  time,  was  as  sincere  as 
it  was  warm,  and  bestirred  themselves  with  alacrity 
to  provide  them  with  shelter  for  the  winter.  As 
for  the  three  nuns  from  La  Fleche,  a  chamber  was 
hastily  made  for  them  over  two  low  rooms  which 
had  served  as  Mademoiselle  Mance's  hospital.  Tliis 
chamber  was  twenty-five  feet  square,  wdth  four 
cells  for  the  nuns,  and  a  closet  for  stores  and  cloth- 
ing, which  for  the  present  was  empty,  as  they  had 
landed  in  such  destitution  that  they  were  forced  to 
sell  all  their  scanty  equipment  to  gain  the  bare 
necessaries  of  existence.  Little  could  be  hoped 
from  the  colonists,  who  were  scarcely  less  destitute 
than  they.  Such  was  their  poverty,  —  thanks  to 
Dauversiere's  breach  of  trust,  —  that  when  *^heir 
clothes  were  worn  out,  they  were  unable  to  replace 
them,  and  were  forced  to  patch  them  mth  such 
material  as  came  to  hand.  Maisonneuve,  the  gov- 
ernor, and  the  pious  Madame  d'Aillebout,  being 
once  on  a  visit  to  the  hospital,  amused  themselves 
with  trjdng  to  guess  of  what  stuff  the  habits  of  the 
nuns  had  originally  been  made,  and  were  unable 
to  agree  on  the  point  in  question.* 

1  Annales  des  HospitaUeres  de  Ville marie,  par  la  Sanir  Morin,  a  con- 
temporary record,  from  wliich  Faillon  gives  long  extracts. 


1657-61.1  SISTER  IVIACfe.  51 

Their  chamber,  which  they  occupied  for  many 
years,  being  hastily  built  of  ill-seasoned  planks,  lei 
in  the  piercing  cold  of  the  Canadian  winter  through 
countless  cracks  and  chinks ;  and  the  driving  snow 
sifted  through  in  such  quantities  that  they  were 
sometimes  obliged,  the  morning  after  a  storm,  to 
remove  it  with  shovels.  Their  food  would  freeze 
on  the  table  before  them,  and  their  coarse  brown 
bread  had  to  be  thawed  on  the  hearth  before  they 
could  cut  it.  These  w^omen  had  been  nurtured  in 
ease,  if  not  in  luxury.  One  of  them,  Judith  de 
Bresoles,  had  in  her  youth,  by  advice  of  her  con- 
fessor, run  away  from  parents  who  were  devoted 
to  her,  and  immured  herself  in  a  convent,  leaving 
them  in  ag-onies  of  doubt  as  to  her  fate.  She  now 
acted  as  superior  of  the  little  community.  One  of 
her  nuns  records  of  her  that  she  had  a  fervent 
devotion  for  the  Infant  Jesus ;  and  that,  along  with 
many  more  spiritual  graces,  he  inspired  her  with 
so  transcendent  a  skill  in  cookery,  that  "  with  a 
small  piece  of  lean  pork  and  a  few  herbs  she  could 
make  soup  of  a  marvellous  relish."^  Sister  Mace 
was  charged  with  the  care  of  the  pigs  and  hens,  to 
whose  wants  she  attended  in  person,  though  she, 
too,  had  been  dehcately  bred.  In  course  of  time, 
the  sisterhood  was  increased  by  additions  from 
without ;  though  more  than  twenty  girls  who 
entered  the  hospital  as  novices  recoiled  from  the 
hardship,  and  took  husbands  in  the  colony.  Among 

1  "  C'ctait  par  son  recours  h  I'Enfant  Jdsus  qu'elle  trouvait  tons  ce8 
Becrets  et  d'autres  seaiblables, '  writes  in  our  own  day  the  excellent 
annalist,  Faillon. 


52  THE  HOLY   WARS   OF  MONTREAL.  [1G57-61 

a  few  who  took  the  vows,  Sister  Jumeau  should 
not  pass  unnoticed.  Such  was  her  humility,  that, 
though  of  a  good  family  and  unable  to  divest  her- 
self of  the  marks  of  good  breeding,  she  pretended 
to  be  the  daughter  of  a  poor  peasant,  and  per- 
sisted in  repeating  the  pious  falsehood  till  the 
merchant  Le  Ber  told  her  flatly  that  he  did  not 
believe  her. 

The  sisters  had  great  need  of  a  man  to  do  the 
heavy  work  of  the  house  and  garden,  but  found  no 
means  of  liiring  one,  when  an  incident,  in  which 
they  saw  a  special  providence,  excellently  suppUed 
the  want.  There  was  a  poor  colonist  named  Jouan- 
eaux  to  whom  a  j)iece  of  land,  had  been  given  at 
some  distance  from  the  settlement.  Had  he  built 
a  cabin  upon  it,  his  scalp  would  soon  have  paid  the 
forfeit ;  but,  being  bold  and  hardy,  he  de\ised  a 
plan  by  which  he  might  hope  to  sleep  in  safety 
without  abandoning  the  farm  which  was  his  only 
possession.  Among  the  stumps  of  his  clearing  there 
was  one  hollow  mth  ao;e.  Under  tliis  he  duo;  a 
sort  of  cave,  the  entrance  of  which  was  a  small  hole 
carefully  hidden  by  brushwood.  The  hollow  stump 
was  easily  converted  into  a  chimney ;  and  by  creep- 
ing into  his  burrow  at  night,  or  when  he  saw  signs 
of  danger,  he  escaped  for  some  time  the  notice  of 
the  Iroquois.  But,  though  he  could  dispense  with 
a  house,  he  needed  a  barn  for  his  hay  and  corn ; 
and  while  he  was  building  one,  he  fell  from  the 
ridge  of  the  roof  and  was  seriously  hurt.  He  was 
carried  to  the  Hotel  Dieu,  where  the  nuns  showed 
him  every  attention,  until,  after  a  long  confinement, 


1657-61.J  PERIL   OF   THE   NUNS.  5o 

he  at  last  recovered.  Being  of  a  grateful  nature 
and  enthusiastically  devout,  he  was  so  touched  by 
the  kindness  of  his  benefactors,  and  so  moved  by 
the  spectacle  of  their  piety,  that  he  conceived  the 
wish  of  devoting  his  life  to  their  service.  To  thiy 
end  a  contract  was  drawn  up,  by  which  he  pledged 
liimself  to  work  for  them  as  long  as  strength  re- 
mained ;  and  they,  on  their  j)art,  agreed  to  main- 
tain him  in  sickness  or  old  age. 

This  stout-hearted  retainer  proved  invaluable; 
though,  had  a  guard  of  soldiers  been  added,  it 
would  have  been  no  more  than  the  case  demanded. 
Montreal  was  not  palisaded,  and  at  first  the  hospital 
was  as  much  exposed  as  the  rest.  The  Iroquois 
would  skulk  at  night  among  the  houses,  like  wolves 
in  a  camp  of  sleeping  travellers  on  the  prairies ; 
though  the  human  foe  was,  of  the  two,  incompar- 
ably the  bolder,  fiercer,  and  more  bloodtliirsty. 
More  than  once  one  of  these  prowling  savages  was 
known  to  have  crouched  all  night  in  a  rank  growth 
of  wild  mustard  in  the  garden  of  the  nuns,  vainly 
hoping  that  one  of  them  would  come  out  within 
reach  of  his  tomahawk.  During  summer,  a  month 
rarely  passed  without  a  fight,  sometimes  within 
figh  t  of  their  ^vindows.  A  burst  of  yells  from  the 
ambushed  marksmen,  followed  by  a  clatter  of  mus- 
ket) y,  would  announce  the  opening  of  the  fray, 
and  promise  the  nuns  an  addition  to  their  list  of 
patients.  On  these  occasions  they  bore  themselves 
according  to  their  several  natures.  Sister  Morin, 
who  had  joined  their  number  three  years  after 
their  arrival,  relates  that  Sister  Bresoles  and  she 


54  THE   HOLY   WARS   OF   MONTREAL.  [1657-61 

used  to  run  to  the  belfry  and  ring  the  tocsin  to 
call  the  inhabitants  too-etlier.  "From  our  hio-h 
station/'  she  writes,  "  we  could  sometimes  see  the 
combat,  which  terrified  us  extremely,  so  that  we 
came  down  again  as  soon  as  we  could,  trembling 
with  fright,  and  tliinking  that  our  last  hour  was 
come.  When  the  tocsin  sounded,  my  Sister  Maillet 
would  become  faint  with  excess  of  fear ;  and  my 
Sister  Mace,  as  long  as  the  alarm  continued,  would 
remain  speechless,  in  a  state  pitiable  to  see.  They 
would  both  get  into  a  corner  of  the  rood-loft,  before 
the  Holy  Sacrament,  so  as  to  be  prepared  for  death ; 
or  else  go  into  their  cells.  As  soon  as  I  heard  that 
the  Iroquois  were  gone,  I  went  to  tell  them,  which 
comforted  them  and  seemed  to  restore  them  to  life. 
Mv  Sister  Bresoles  was  stronsi-er  and  more  coura- 
geous ;  her  terror,  which  she  could  not  help,  did  not 
prevent  her  from  attending  the  sick  and  receiving 
the  dead  and  wounded  who  were  brought  in." 

The  priests  of  St.  Sulpice,  who  had  assumed  the 
entire  spiritual  charge  of  the  settlement,  and  who 
were  soon  to  assume  its  entire  temporal  charge 
also,  had  for  some  years  no  other  lodging  than  a 
room  at  the  hospital,  adjoining  those  of  the  patients. 
They  caused  the  building  to  be  fortified  vdth.  pali- 
sades, and  the  houses  of  some  of  the  chief  inhabi- 
tants were  placed  near  it,  for  mutual  defence.  They 
also  built  two  fortified  houses,  called  Ste.  Marie  and 
St.  Gabriel,  at  the  two  extremities  of  the  settle- 
ment, and  lodged  in  them  a  considerable  number 
of  armed  men,  whom  they  employed  in  clearing 
and  cultivating  the  surrounding  lands,  the  property 


1657-61.1  PRODIGIES.  65 

of  their  comniimity.  All  other  outlying  houses 
were  also  pierced  with  loopholes,  and  fortified  as 
well  as  the  slender  means  of  their  owners  would 
permit.  The  laborers  always  carried  their  guns  to 
the  field,  and  often  had  need  to  use  them.  A  few 
incidents  will  show  the  state  of  Montreal  and  the 
character  of  its  tenants. 

In  the  autumn  of  1657  there  was  a  truce  mth 
the  Iroquois,  under  cover  of  which  three  or  four  of 
them  came  to  the  settlement.  Nicolas  Gode  and 
Jean  Saint-Pere  were  on  the  roof  of  their  house, 
laying  thatch ;  when  one  of  the  visitors  aimed  liis 
arquebuse  at  Saiut-Pere,  and  brought  liim  to  the 
ground  like  a  wild  turkey  from  a  tree.  Now  en- 
sued a  prodigy ;  for  the  assassins,  having  cut  off 
his  head  and  carried  it  home  to  their  village,  were 
amazed  to  hear  it  speak  to  them  m  good  Iroquois, 
scold  them  for  their  perfidy,  and  threaten  them 
^vith  the  vengeance  of  Heaven ;  and  they  con- 
tinned  to  hear  its  voice  of  admonition  even  after 
scalping  it  and  throwing  away  the  skuU.^  This 
story,  circulated  at  Montreal  on  the  alleged  au- 
thority of  the  Indians  themselves,  found  believers 
among  the  most  intelligent  men  of  the  colony. 

Another  miracle,  which  occurred  several  years 
later,  deserves  to  be  recorded.  Le  Maitre,  one  of 
the  two  priests  who  had  sailed  from  France  with 
Mademoiselle  Mance  and  her  nuns,  being  one  day  at 
the  fortified  house  of  St.  Gabriel,  went  out  Avith  the 
laborers,  in  order  to  watch  while  they  were  at  their 
work.    In  view  of  a  possible  enemy,  he  had  girded 

1  Dollier  de  Casson,  Ilistoire  dti  Montreal,  1657, 1658.  ^ 


56  THE   HOLY   WARS   OF   MONTREAL.  [1657-61 

liimself  "svith  an  earthly  sword ;  but  seeing  no  sign 
of  danger,  he  presently  took  out  his  bre\'iary,  and, 
while  reciting  his  office  with  eyes  bent  on  the 
page,  walked  into  an  ambuscade  of  Iroquois,  who 
rose  before  him  with  a  yell. 

He  shouted  to  the  laborers,  and,  drawing  his 
sword,  faced  the  whole  savage  crew,  in  order,  prob- 
ably, to  give  the  men  time  to  snatch  their  guns. 
AfraiJ  to  approach,  the  Iroquois  fired  and  killed 
him ;  then  rushed  upon  the  working  party,  who 
escaped  into  the  house,  after  losing  several  of  their 
number.  The  victors  cut  off  the  head  of  the 
heroic  priest,  and  tied  it  in  a  white  handkerchief 
Avhich  they  took  from  a  pocket  of  his  cassock.  It 
is  said  that  on  reaching  their  villages  they  were 
astonished  to  find  the  handkerchief  without  the 
slightest  stain  of  blood,  but  stamjoed  indelibly  mth 
the  featiu^es  of  its  late  owner,  so  plainly  marked 
that  none  who  had  known  him  could  fail  to  recos;- 
nize  them.^  This  not  very  original  miracle,  though 
it  found  eager  credence  at  Montreal,  Avas  received 
coolly,  like  other  Montreal  miracles,  at  Quebec  ; 
and  Sulpitian  writers  complain  that  the  bishop,  in 
a  long  letter  wliich  he  wrote  to  the  Pope,  made  no 
mention  of  it  whatever. 

Le  Maitre,  on  the  voyage  to  Canada,  had  been 
accompanied  by  another  priest,  Guillaume  de 
Vignal,  who  met  a  fate  more  deplorable  than  that 
of  his  companion,  though  unattended  by  any  re- 

^  This  story  is  told  by  Sister  Morin,  Marguerite  Bourgeoys,  and 
Dollier  de  Casson,  on  tlie  autliority  of  one  Lavigne,  tlien  a  prisoner 
among  the  Iroquois,  wlio  declared  that  he  had  seen  the  handkerchief  ^ 
the  liands^  of  the  returning  warriors. 


i657-61.I  DEATH   OF   VIGNAL.  57 

corded  miracle.  Le  Maitre  had  been  killed  in 
August.  In  the  October  following,  Vignal  went 
with  thirteen  men,  in  a  flat-boat  and  several  canoes^ 
to  Isle  a  la  Pierre,  nearly  opposite  Montreal,  to  get 
stone  for  the  seminary  which  the  priests  had  re- 
cently begun  to  build.  With  him  was  a  2')ious  and 
valiant  gentleman  named  Claude  de  Brigeac,  who, 
though  but  thirty  years  of  age,  had  come  as  a  sol- 
dier to  Montreal,  in  the  hope  of  dying  in  defence 
of  the  true  church,  and  thus  reaping  the  reward 
of  a  martyr.  Vignal  and  three  or  four  men  had 
scarcely  landed  when  they  were  set  upon  by  a 
large  band  of  Iroquois  who  lay  among  the  bushes 
waiting  to  receive  them.  The  rest  of  the  party, 
who  were  still  in  their  boats,  with  a  cowardice  rare 
at  Montreal,  thought  only  of  saving  themselves. 
Claude  de  Brigeac  alone  leaped  ashore  and  ran 
to  aid  his  comrades.  Vignal  was  soon  mortally 
wounded.  Brigeac  shot  the  chief  dead  with  his 
arquebuse,  and  then,  pistol  in  hand,  held  the  whole 
troop  for  an  instant  at  bay ;  but  his  arm  w^as  shat- 
tered by  a  gun-shot,  and  he  was  seized,  along  with 
Vignal,  Rene  Cuillerier,  and  Jacques  Dufresne. 
Crossing  to  the  main  shore,  immediately  opposite 
Montreal,  the  Iroquois  made,  after  their  custom,  a 
small  fort  of  logs  and  branches,  in  which  they  en- 
sconced themselves,  and  then  began  to  dress  the 
wounds  of  their  prisoners.  Seeing  that  Vignal  was 
unable  to  make  the  journey  to  their  villages,  they 
killed  liim,  divided  his  flesh,  and  roasted  it  for  food. 
Brigeac  and  his  fellows  in  misfortune  spent  a 
woful  night  in  this  den  of  wolves ;    and   in   tlu» 


58  THE    [lOLY   WARS   OF   MONTREAL.  [1657-61 

morning  their  captors,  Laving  breakfasted  on  the 
remains  of  Vignal,  took  up  their  homeward  march, 
dracj^oriiiiiC  the  Frenchmen  with  them.  On  reachingi; 
Oneida,  Brigeac  was  tortured  to  death  with  the 
customary  atrocities.  Cuillerier,  who  Avas  present, 
declared  that  they  could  wring  from  liiin  no  cry  of 
pain,  but  that  throughout  he  ceased  not  to  pray  for 
their  conversion.  The  witness  himself  expected  the 
same  fate,  but  an  old  squaw  happily  adopted  him, 
and  thus  saved  his  life.  He  eventually  escaped  to 
Albany,  and  returned  to  Canada  by  the  circuitous 
but  comparatively  safe  route  of  New  York  and 
Boston. 

In  the  following  winter,  Montreal  suffered  an 
irreparable  loss  in  the  death  of  the  brave  Major 
Closse,  a  man  whose  intrepid  coolness  was  never 
known  to  fail  in  the  direst  emergenc}^  Going  to 
the  aid  of  a  party  of  laborers  attacked  by  the  Iro- 
quois, he  was  met  by  a  crowd  of  savages,  eager  to 
kill  or  capture  him.  His  servant  ran  off.  He 
snapped  a  pistol  at  the  foremost  assailant,  but  it 
missed  fire.  His  remaining  pistol  served  liim  no 
better,  and  he  was  instantly  shot  down  "  He 
died,"  writes  Dollier  de  Casson,  "  like  a  brave  sol- 
dier of  Christ  and  the  king."  Some  of  his  friends 
once  remonstrating  with  him  on  the  temerity  with 
wliich  he  exposed  his  life,  he  replied,  "  Messieurs, 
1  came  here  only  to  die  in  the  service  of  God ;  and 
if  I  thought  I  could  not  die  here,  I  Avould  leave 
this  country  to  fight  the  Turks,  that  I  might  not 
be  deprived  of  such  a  glorj^"  ^ 

1  Dollier  de  Casson,  Ristolts  du  Montreal,  1661,  1662. 


1657-01.1  A   YEAR  OF   DISASTER.  59 

The  fortified  house  of  Ste.  Marie,  belonging  to 
the  priests  of  St.  Sulpice,  was  the  scene  of  several 
hot  and  bloody  fights.  Here,  too,  occurred  the 
followiniii:  nocturnal  adventure.  A  man  named 
Lavigne,  who  had  lately  returned  from  captivity 
among  the  Iroquois,  chancing  to  rise  at  night  and 
look  out  of  the  window,  saw  by  the  bright  moon- 
light a  number  of  naked  warriors  stealthily  gliding 
round  a  corner  and  crouching  near  the  door,  in 
order  to  kill  the  first  Frenchman  who  should  go 
out  in  the  morning.  He  silently  woke  liis  com- 
rades ;  and,  having  the  rest  of  the  night  for  con- 
sultation, they  arranged  their  j)lan  so  well,  that 
some  of  them,  sallying  from  the  rear  of  the  house, 
came  cautiously  round  upon  the  Iroquois,  placed 
them  between  two  fires,  and  captured  them  all. 

The  summer  of  16  Gl  was  marked  by  a  series  of 
(calamities  scarcely  paralleled  even  in  the  annals 
of  this  disastrous  epoch.  Early  in  February,  tliir- 
teen  colonists  were  surprised  and  captured ;  next 
came  a  fight  between  a  large  band  of  laborers  and 
two  hundred  and  sixty  Iroquois ;  in  the  following 
month,  ten  more  Frenchmen  were  killed  or  taken  ; 
and  thenceforth,  till  winter  closed,  the  settlement 
had  scarcely  a  breathing  space.  "  These  hobgob- 
lins," writes  the  author  of  the  Melation  of  tliis  year, 
"  sometimes  appeared  at  the  edge  of  the  woods, 
assailing  us  with  abuse ;  sometimes  they  glided 
stealthily  into  the  midst  of  the  fields,  to  surprise 
the  men  at  work ;  sometimes  they  approached 
the  houses,  harassing  us  Avithout  ceasing,  and, 
like  importunate  harpies  or  birds  of  prey,  swoop- 


GO        THE  HOLY  WARS  OF  MONTREAL.    [1067-Ul. 

ing   doAvii   on   us   whenever  they  could   take   us 
unawares."  ^ 

Spealdng  of  the  disasters  of  tliis  year,  the  sol- 
dier-priest, Dollier  de  Casson,  writes  :  "  God,  who 
afflicts  the  body  only  for  the  good  of  the  soul, 
made  a  marvellous  use  of  these  calamities  and  ter- 
rors to  hold  the  people  firm  in  their  duty  towards 
Heaven.  Vice  was  then  almost  unknown  here,  and 
in  the  midst  of  war  reli2:ion  flourished  on  all  sides  in 
a  manner  very  different  from  what  we  now  see  in 
time  of  peace."  ^ 

-r  The  war  was,  in  fact,  a  war  of  religion.  The 
small  redoubts  of  logs,  scattered  about  the  skirts 
of  the  settlement  to  serve  as  points  of  defence  in 
case  of  attack,  bore  the  names  of  saints,  to  whose 
care  they  were  commended.  There  was  one  placed 
under  a  higher  protection  and  called  the  Redoiibt 
of  the  Infant  Jesus.  Chomedey  de  Maisonneuve, 
the  pious  and  valiant  governor  of  Montreal,  to 
whom  its  successful  defence  is  largely  due,  re- 
solved, in  ^dew  of  the  increasing  fury  and  persist- 
ency of  the  Iroquois  attacks,  to  form  among  the 
inhabitants  a  military  fraternity,  to  be  called 
"  Soldiers  of  the  Holy  Family  of  Jesus,  Mary,  and 
Joseph ; "  and  to  this  end  he  issued  a  proclama- 
tion, of  which  the  following  is  the  characteristic 
besrinnino; :  — 

"  We,  Paul  de  Chomedey,  governor  of  the  island 
of  Montreal  and  lands  thereon  dependent,  on  in- 
formation given  us  from  divers  quarters  that  the 

>  Le  Jeune,  Relation,  1661,  p.  3  (ed.  1858). 
2  HLstoire  du  Montreal,  1660,  1661. 


1657-61.1  A  HOLY  WAR.  61 

Iroquois  have  formed  the  design  of  seizing  upon 
this  settlement  by  surprise  or  force,  have  thought 
it  our  duty,  seeing  that  tliis  island  is  the  property 
of  the  Holy  Virgin,^  to  invite  and  exhort  those 
zealous  for  her  service  to  unite  together  by  squads, 
each  of  seven  persons;  and  after  choosing  a  cor- 
poral by  a  plurality  of  voices,  to  report  themselvea 
to  us  for  enrolment  in  our  garrison,  and,  in  this 
capacity,  to  obey  our  orders,  to  the  end  that  the 
country  may  be  saved." 

Twenty  squads,  numbering  in  all  one  hundred 
and  forty  men,  whose  names,  appended  to  the 
proclamation,  may  still  be  seen  on  the  ancient 
records  of  Montreal,  answered  the  appeal  and  en- 
rolled themselves  in  the  holy  cause. 

The  whole  settlement  was  in  a  state  of  religious 
exaltation.  As  the  Iroquois  were  regarded  as  actual 
myrmidons  of  Satan  in  his  malign  warfare  against 
Mary  and  her  divine  Son,  those  who  died  in  fight- 
ing them  were  held  to  merit  the  reward  of  martys, 
assured  of  a  seat  in  paradise. 

And  now  it  remains  to  record  one  of  the  most 
heroic  feats  of  arms  ever  achieved  on  this  continent. 
That  it  may  be  rated  as  it  merits,  it  will  be  well  to 
glance  for  a  moment  at  the  condition  of  Canada, 
under  the  portentous  cloud  of  war  which  constantly 
overshadowed  it.^ 


1  This  is  no  figure  of  speech.  The  Associates  of  Montreal,  after 
receiving  a  grant  of  the  island  from  Jean  de  Lauson,  placed  it  under  the 
protection  of  the  Virgin,  and  formally  declared  her  to  be  the  proprietor 
of  it  from  that  day  forth  for  ever. 

2  In  all  that  relates  to  Montreal,  I  cannot  be  sufficiently  grateful  to 
tlie  Abbe  Faillon,  the  indeflitigable,  patient,  conscientious  chronicler  of  its 


G2  THE   HOLY   WARS   OF  MONTREAL.  [1657-61 

eaily  history;  an  ardent  and  prejudiced  Sulpitian,  a  priest  who  three 
centuries  ago  wouhl  have  passed  for  credulous,  and,  witlial,  a  kind- 
licarted  and  estimable  man.  His  numerous  hooks  on  his  favorite 
theme,  wltli  tiie  vast  and  heterogeneous  mass  of  facts  wliich  tliey 
embody,  are  invaluable,  provided  their  partisan  character  be  well  kept 
in  mind.  His  recent  death  leaves  liis  principal  work  unfinished.  His 
nistoire  de  la  Colonie  Franqaise  en  Canada  —  it  might  more  fitly  be  called 
Histoire  du  Montreal — is  unhappily  little  more  than  half  complete. 


CHAPTER  m. 

1G60,  1661. 
THE  HEROES  OF  THE  LONG  SAUT. 

SUFFERIKG  AND  TeRROU. FrANCOIS  HeRTEL. ThE  CaRTIVE  WOLP 

—  The    TIIltEATENED    INVASION. DaUI.AC    DES    OrMEAUX. ThB 

Adventurers  at  the  Long  S>ut.  —  The  Attack.  —  ADespekatb 
Defence.  —  A  Final  Assault.  —  The  Fort  taken. 

Canada  had  writhed  for  twenty  years,  with  httle 
respite,  under  the  scourge  of  Iroquois  war.  During 
a  great  part  of  this  dark  period  the  entire  French 
population  was  less  than  three  thousand.  What, 
then,  saved  them  from  destruction  ?  In  the  first 
place,  the  settlements  were  grouped  around  three 
fortified  posts,  Quebec,  Three  Rivers,  and  Montreal, 
which  in  time  of  danger  gave  asylum  to  the  fugi- 
tive inhabitants.  Again,  their  assailants  were  con- 
tinually distracted  by  other  wars,  and  never,  except 
at  a  few  spasmodic  intervals,  were  fully  in  earnest 
to  destroy  the  French  colony.  Canada  was  indis- 
pensable to  them.  The  four  upper  nations  of  the 
league  soon  became  dependent  on  her  for  supplies; 
and  all  the  nations  alike  appear,  at  a  very  early 
period,  to  have  conceived  the  policy  on  which  they 
afterwards  distinctly  acted,  of  balancing  the  rival 
settlements  of  the  Hudson  and  the  St.  Lawrence, 


(54        THE  HEROES  OF  THE  LONG  SAUT.   [lCGO-61. 

the  one  against  the  other.  They  would  torture,  but 
not  kill.  It  Avas  but  rarely  that,  in  fits  of  fury,  they 
struck  their  hatchets  at  the  brain  ;  and  thus  the 
bleeding  and  gasping  colony  lingered  on  in  torment. 

The  seneschal  of  New  France,  son  of  the  gov- 
ernor Lauson,  was  surprised  and  Idlled  on  the  island 
of  Orleans,  along  ^'ith  seven  couipanions.  About 
the  same  time,  the  same  fate  befell  the  son  of 
Godefroy,  one  of  the  chief  inhabitants  of  Quebec. 
Outside  the  fortifications  there  was  no  safety  for 
a  moment.  A  universal  terror  seized  the  people.  A 
comet  appeared  above  Quebec,  and  they  saw  in  it 
a  herald  of  destruction.  Their  excited  imagina- 
tions turned  natural  phenomena  into  portents  and 
prodigies.  A  blazing  canoe  sailed  across  the  sky  ; 
confused  cries  and  lamentations  were  heard  in  the 
air ;  and  a  voice  of  thunder  sounded  from  mid- 
heaven.^  The  Jesuits  despaired  for  their  scattered 
and  persecuted  flocks.  "  Everywhere,"  writes  their 
superior,  "  we  see  infants  to  be  saved  for  heaven, 
sick  and  dying  to  be  baptized,  adults  to  be  instructed, 
but  everywhere  we  see  the  Iroquois.  They  haunt 
us  like  ^persecuting  goblins.  They  kill  our  new- 
made  Christians  in  oiu'  arms.  If  they  meet  us  on 
the  river,  they  kill  us.  If  they  find  us  in  the 
huts  of  our  Indians,  they  burn  us  and  them  to- 
gether." ~  And  he  appeals  urgently  for  troops  to 
destroy  them,  as  a  holy  work  inspired  by  God,  and 
needful  for  his  service. 

Canada  was  still  a  mission,  and  the  influence  of 

^  Marie  de  I'lncarnation,  Lettre,  Sept.,  1661. 
2  Relation,  1660  (anonymous),  3. 


t668.1  ARGENSON.  Cl> 

the  church  was  paramount  and  pervading.  At 
Quebec,  as  at  Montreal,  the  war  with  the  Iroquois 
was  regarded  as  a  war  with  the  hosts  of  Satan.  Of 
the  settlers'  cabins  scattered  along  the  shores  above 
and  below  Quebec,  many  were  provided  with  small 
iron  cannon,  made  probably  by  blacksmiths  in  the 
colony ;  but  they  had  also  other  protectors.  In 
each  was  an  image  of  the  Virgin  or  some  patron 
saint,  and  every  morning  the  pious  settler  knelt 
before  the  shrine  to  beg  the  protection  of  a  celes- 
tial hand  in  liis  perilous  labors  of  the  forest  or  the 
farm. 

When,  in  the  summer  of  1658,  the  young  Vi- 
comte  d'Argenson  came  to  assume  the  thankless 
task  of  governing  the  colony,  the  Iroquois  war  was 
at  its  height.  On  the  day  after  his  arrival,  he  was 
Avasliin":  his  hands  before  seatinii:  himself  at  dinner 
in  the  hall  of  the  Chateau  St.  Louis,  when  cries  of 
alarm  were  heard,  and  he  was  told  that  the  Iroquois 
were  close  at  hand.  In  fact,  they  were  so  near  that 
their  Avar- whoops  and  the  screams  of  their  victims 
could  plainly  be  heard.  Argenson  left  his  guests, 
and,  with  such  a  following  as  he  could  muster  at  the 
moment,  hastened  to  the  rescue ;  but  the  assailants 
were  too  nimble  for  him.  The  forests,  Avhicli  graw 
at  that  time  around  Quebec,  favored  them  both  in 
attack  and  in  retreat.  After  a  year  or  two  of  expe- 
rience, he  wrote  urgently  to  the  court  for  troops. 
lie  adds  tliat,  what  with  the  demands  of  the  har- 
vest, and  the  unmilitary  character  of  many  of  the 
settlers,  the  colony  coidd  not  furnish  more  than  a 
hundred  men  for  offensive  operations.    A  vigorous 


66  THE  HEROES   OF  THE   LONG   BAUT.  [1661 

aggressive  war,  he  insists,  is  absolutely  necessary, 
and  this  not  only  to  save  the  colony,  but  to  save 
the  only  true  faith ;  "  for,"  to  borrow  his  own  words, 
"  it  is  this  colony  alone  which  has  the  honor  to  be 
in  the  communion  of  the  Holy  Church.  Every- 
where else  reigns  the  doctrine  of  England  or  Hol- 
land, to  which  I  can  give  no  other  name,  because 
there  are  as  many  creeds  as  there  are  subjects  who 
embrace  them.  They  do  not  care  in  the  least 
whether  the  Iroquois  and  the  other  savages  of  this 
country  have  or  have  not  a  knowledge  of  the  true 
God,  or  else  they  are  so  malicious  as  to  inject  the 
venom  of  their  errors  into  souls  incapable  of  dis- 
tmguishing  the  truth  of  the  gosj^el  from  the  false- 
hoods of  heresy ;  and  hence  it  is  j)lain  that  religion 
has  its  sole  support  in  the  French  colony,  and  that, 
if  this  colony  is  m  danger,  religion  is  equally  in 
danger."  ^ 

Amons:  the  most  interesting:  memorials  of  the  time 
are  two  letters,  written  by  Francois  Hertel,  a  youth 
of  eighteen,  captured  at  Three  Rivers,  and  carried 
to  the  Mohawk  towns  in  the  summer  of  1661.  He 
belonged  to  one  of  the  best  families  of  Canada,  and 
was  the  favorite  child  of  his  mother,  to  whom  the 
second  of  the  two  letters  is  addressed.  The  first 
is  to  the  Jesuit  Le  Moyne,  who  had  gone  to  Onon- 
daga, in  July  of  that  year,  to  effect  the  release 
of  French  prisoners  in  accordance  with  the  terms 
of  a  truce.-  Both  letters  were  \\Titten  on  birch 
bark :  — 

1  Papiers  d'Argenson  ;  M^moire  sur  le  sujet  de  la  juerre  des  Iroquois,  1659 
(1060  ?).     MS. 

^  Journal  d^s  J^suites,  300. 


i661.]  FRANCOIS   HERTEL.  67 

JMy  Reverend  Father:  —  The  very  day  when  yoii  left 
Three  Rivers  I  was  captured,  at  about  three  in  the  afternoon, 
by  four  Iroquois  of  the  Mohawk  tribe.  I  would  not  have  been 
taken  alive,  ii]  to  my  sorrow,  I  had  not  feared  that  I  Avas  not 
in  a  fit  state  to  die.  If  you  came  here,  my  Father,  I  could 
h.ave  the  ha^jpiness  of  confessing  to  you ;  and  I  do  not  think 
they  woidd  do  you  any  harm  ;  and  I  tliink  that  I  could  return 
home  with  you.  I  pray  you  to  pity  my  poor  mother,  who  is 
in  great  trouble.  You  know,  my  Father,  how  fond  she  is  ol 
me.  I  have  heard  from  a  Frenchman,  wlio  was  taken  at 
Three  Rivers  on  the  1st  of  August,  that  she  is  well,  and  com- 
forts herself  with  the  hope  that  I  shall  see  you.  There  are 
three  of  us  Frenchmen  alive  here.  I  commend  myself  to  your 
good  prayers,  and  particulai-ly  to  the  Holy  Saci'ifice  of  the 
Mass.  I  pray  you,  my  Father,  to  say  a  mass  for  me.  I  pray 
you  give  my  dutiful  love  to  my  poor  mother,  and  console  her, 
if  it  ])leases  you. 

My  Father,  1  beg  your  blessing  on  the  hand  that  writes  to 
you,  which  has  one  of  the  fingers  burned  in  the  bowl  of 
an  Indian  pipe,  to  satisfy  the  Majesty  of  God  which  I  have 
offended.  The  thumb  of  the  other  hand  is  cut  off;  but  do 
not  tell  my  mother  of  it. 

JMy  Father,  I  pray  you  to  honor  me  with  a  word  from  your 
hand  in  reply,  and  tell  me  if  you  shall  come  here  before 
winter. 

Your  most  humble  and  most  obedient  servant, 

Francois  Hertel. 

The  following  is  the  letter  to  his  mother,  sen! 
probably,  with  the  other,  to  the  charge  of  Le 
Moyne :  — 

My  most  dear  and  honored  Mother  :  —  I  know  very 
well  that  my  capture  must  have  distressed  you  very  nmch. 
I  ask  you  to  forgive  my  disobedience.  It  is  my  sins  that 
have  placed  me  where  I  am.  I  owe  my  life  to  your  prayers, 
and  those  of  M.  de  Saint-Quentin,  and  of  my  sisters.  I  hope  to 
see  you  again  bef  )re  Avinter.   I  pray  you  to  tell  the  good  breth- 


08  THE   HEROES   OF   THE   LONG   SAUT.  [1660; 

ren  of  Notve  Dame  to  pray  to  God  and  the  Holy  Virgin  for  me, 
my  dear  mother,  and  for  you  and  all  my  sisters. 

Your  poor 

Fanchon. 

This,  no  doubt,  was  the  name  by  which  she  had 
called  him  familiarly  when  a  child.  And  who  was 
this  '•  Fanchon,"  this  devout  and  tender  son  of  a 
fond  mother  ?    New  Ens-land  can  answer  to  her  cost. 

o 

When,  twenty-nine  years  later,  a  band  of  French 
and  Indians  issued  from  the  forest  and  fell  upon 
the  fort  and  settlement  of  Salmon  Falls,  it  was 
Franij'ois  Hertel  who  led  the  attack ;  and  when  the 
retiring  victors  were  hard  pressed  by  an  over- 
whelming force,  it  was  he  who,  sword  in  hand,  held 
the  pursuers  in  check  at  the  bridge  of  Wooster 
River,  and  covered  the  retreat  of  his  men.  He 
was  ennobled  for  his  services,  and  died  at  the  age 
of  eighty,  the  founder  of  one  of  the  most  distin- 
guished families  of  Canada.^  To  the  New  England 
of  old  he  was  the  abhorred  chief  of  Popish  malig- 
nants  and  murdering  savages.  The  New  England 
of  to-day  will  be  more  just  to  the  brave  defender 
of  his  country  and  his  faith. 

In  May,  16G0,  a  party  of  French  Algonquins 
captured  a  Wolf,  or  Mohegan,  Indian,  naturahzed 
among  the  Iroquois,  brought  him  to  Quebec,  and 
burned  him  there  with  their  usual  atrocity  of  tor- 
ture. A  modern  Catholic  writer  says  that  the 
Jesuits  could  not  save  him ;  but  this  is  not  so. 
Their  influence  over  the  consciences  of  the  colonists 

1  His  letters  of  noliility,  dated  1716,  will  be  found  in  Daniel's  Histoirt 
des  Grandes  Families  Frani^aisps  du  Caruida,  404. 


1660.]  THE  WOLF  BURNED.  69 

was  at  that  time  unbounded,  and  their  direct  j)o- 
litical  power  was  very  great.  A  protest  on  their 
part,  and  that  of  the  newly  arrived  bishop,  who 
was  in  their  interest,  could  not  have  failed  of  effect. 
The  truth  was,  they  did  not  care  to  prevent  the 
torture  of  prisoners  of  war,  not  solely  out  of  that 
spirit  of  compliance  with  the  savage  humor  of 
Indian  allies  which  stains  so  often  the  pages  of 
French  American  history,  but  also,  and  perhaps 
chiefly,  from  motives  purely  religious.  Torture,  in 
their  eyes,  seems  to  have  been  a  blessing  in  dis- 
guise. They  thought  it  good  for  the  soul,  and  in 
case  of  obduracy  the  surest  way  of  salvation.  "  We 
have  very  rarely  indeed,"  writes  one  of  them, 
"  seen  the  burning  of  an  Iroquois  without  feehng 
sure  that  he  was  on  the  path  to  Paradise ;  and  we 
never  knew  one  of  them  to  be  surely  on  the  path 
to  Paradise  without  seeing  him  pass  through  this 
fiery  punishment."  ^  So  they  let  the  Wolf  burn ; 
but  first,  having  instructed  him  after  their  fashion, 
they  baptized  him,  and  liis  savage  soul  flew  to 
heaven  out  of  the  fire.  "  Is  it  not,"  pursues  the 
same  writer,  "  a  marvel  to  see  a  wolf  changed  at 
one  stroke  into  a  lamb,  and  enter  into  the  fold  of 
Christ,  which  he  came  to  ravage  ?  " 

Before  he  died  he  requited  their  spiritual  cares 
with  a  startling  secret.  He  told  them  that  eight 
hundred  Iroquois  warriors  were  encamped  below 
Montreal ;  that  four  hundred  more,  who  had  win- 
tered on  the  Ottawa,  were  on  the  point  of  joining 
them ;  and  that  the  united  force  would  swoop  upon 

»  Relation,  1G60,  81. 


70  THE   IIEHOES   of  the   long   SAUT.  11660. 

Quebec,  kill  the  governor,  lay  Avaste  the  town,  and 
then  attack  Three  Rivers  and  Montreal.^  Tliia 
time,  at  least,  the  Iroquois  were  in  deadly  earnest. 
Quebec  was  Avild  with  terror.  The  Ursulines  and 
the  nuns  of  the  Hotel  Dieu  took  refuge  in  the 
strong  and  extensive  building  which  the  Jesuita 
had  just  finished,  opposite  the  Parish  Church.  Its 
walls  and  palisades  made  it  easy  of  defence ;  and 
in  its  yards  and  court  were  lodged  the  terrified 
Hurons,  as  well  as  the  fugitive  inhabitants  of  the 
neighboring  settlements.  Others  found  asylum  in 
the  fort,  and  others  in  the  convent  of  the  Ursulines, 
which,  in  place  of  nuns,  was  occupied  by  twenty- 
four  soldiers,  who  fortified  it  with  redoubts,  and 
barricaded  the  doors  and  windows.  Similar  meas- 
ures of  defence  were  taken  at  the  Hotel  Dieu, 
and  the  streets  of  the  Lower  Town  were  strongly 
barricaded.  Everybody  was  in  arms,  and  the 
Qui  vive  of  the  sentries  and  patrols  resounded  all 
night.^ 

Several  days  passed,  and  no  Iroquois  appeared. 
The  refugees  took  heart,  and  began  to  return  to 
their  deserted  farms  and  dwelhno;s.  Amonsj  the 
rest  was  a  family  consisting  of  an  old  Avoman,  her 
daughter,  her  son-in-law,  and  four  small  cliildren, 
living  near  St.  Anne,  some  tw^enty  miles  below 
Quebec.  On  reaching  home  the  old  woman  and 
the  man  went  to  their  work  in  the  fields,  while 
the  mother  and  children  remained  in  the  house. 

1  Marie  de  I'lncarnation,  Lettre,  25  Juin,  1660. 

2  On  tliis  alarm  at  Quebec  compare  Marie  de  I'lncarnation,  25  Juin, 
1660 ;  Relation,  1660,  5 ;  Juchereau,  Uisloire  de  I'Hotel-Dieu  de  Quebec,  125 
and  Journal  des  J^suites  282. 


IGoO.I  THE   CAPTORS   CAPTURED.  71 

Here  they  were  pounced  upon  and  captured  by 
eight  renegade  Hurons,  Iroquois  by  adoption,  who 
placed  them  in  their  large  canoe,  and  paddled  up 
the  river  with  their  prize.  It  was  Saturday,  a  day 
dedicated  to  the  Virgin ;  and  the  captive  mother 
prayed  to  her  for  aid,  "  feeling,"  writes  a  Jesuit, 
"  a  full  conviction  that,  in  passing  before  Quebec 
on  a  Saturday,  she  would  be  delivered  by  the  power 
of  this  Queen  of  Heaven."  In  fact,  as  the  ma- 
rauders and  their  captives  glided  in  the  darkness 
of  night  by  Point  Levi,  under  the  shadow  of  the 
shore,  they  were  greeted  with  a  volley  of  musketry 
from  the  bushes,  and  a  band  of  French  and  Algon- 
quins  dashed  into  the  water  to  seize  them.  Five 
of  the  eight  were  taken,  and  the  rest  shot  or 
drowned.  The  governor  had  heard  of  the  descent 
at  St.  Anne,  and  despatched  a  party  to  lie  in  am- 
bush for  the  authors  of  it.  The  Jesuits,  it  is  need- 
less to  say,  saw  a  miracle  in  the  result.  The  Virgin 
had  answered  the  prayer  of  her  votary.  "  Though 
it  is  true,"  observes  the  father  who  records  the 
marvel,  "  that,  in  the  volley,  she  received  a  moi'tal 
wound."  The  same  shot  struck  the  infant  in  her 
arms.  The  prisoners  were  taken  to  Quebec,  where 
four  of  them  were  tortured  with  even  more  ferocit}' 
than  had  been  shown  in  the  case  of  the  unfortunate 
Wolf.^    Being  questioned,  they  confirmed  his  story, 

1  Tlie  torturers  were  Cliristian  Algonquins,  converts  of  the  Jesuits. 
Chaumouot,  who  was  present  to  give  spiritual  aid  to  the  sufferers,  de- 
scribes tlie  scene  with  horrible  minuteness.  "  I  could  not,"  he  says, 
"  deliver  them  from  their  torments."  Perliaps  not :  but  it  is  certain  that 
tlie  Jesuits  as  a  body,  with  or  without  the  bishop,  could  have  prevented 
the  atrocity,  had  they  seen  fit.     They  sometimes  taught  their  converts  to 


72  THE   HEROES   OF  THE  LONG   SAUT.  [1S60 

and  expressed  great  surprise  that  the  Iroquois  had 
not  come,  adding  that  they  must  have  stopped  to 
attack  Montreal  or  Three  Rivers.  Again  all  was 
terror,  and  again  days  passed  and  no  enem}' 
appeared.  Had  the  dying  converts,  so  charitably 
despatched  to  heaven  through  fire,  sought  an  un- 
liallowed  consolation  in  scaring  the  abettors  of  their 
torture  with  a  lie  ?  Not  at  all.  Bating  a  slight 
exaggeration,  they  had  told  the  truth.  Where, 
then,  were  the  Iroquois  ?  As  one  small  point  of 
steel  disarms  the  Hghtning  of  its  terrors,  so  did  the 
heroism  of  a  few  intrepid  youths  divert  this  storm 
of  war  and  save  Canada  from  a  possible  ruin. 

In  the  preceding  April,  before  the  designs  of 
the  Iroquois  were  known,  a  young  officer  named 
Daulac,  commandant  of  the  garrison  of  Montreal, 
asked  leave  of  Maisonneuve,  the  governor,  to  lead 
a  party  of  volunteers  against  the  enemy.  His  plan 
was  bold  to  desperation.  It  was  known  that  Iro- 
quois warriors  in  great  numbers  had  wintered 
among  the  forests  of  the  Ottawa.  Daulac  proposed 
to  waylay  them  on  their  descent  of  the  river,  and 
fight  them  without  regard  to  disparity  of  force. 
The  settlers  of  Montreal  had  hitherto  acted  solely 
on  the  defensive,  for  their  numbers  had  been  too 
small  for  aggressive  war.  Of  late  their  strength 
had  been  somewhat  increased,  and  Maisonneuve, 
judging  that  a  display  of  enterprise  and  boldness 

pray  for  their  enemies.  It  would  have  been  well  had  thej'  taught  them 
not  to  torture  them.  I  can  recall  but  one  instance  in  which  they  did  so. 
The  prayers  for  enemies  were  always  for  a  spiritual,  not  a  temporal  good. 
The  fathers  held  the  body  in  slight  account,  and  cared  little  what  hap 
poned  to  it 


i6G0.|  DAULAC  DES   ORMEAUX.  73 

might  act  as  a  check  on  the  audacity  of  the  enemy, 
at  length  gave  his  consent. 

Adam  Daulac,  or  Dollard,  Sieiir  des  Ormeanx, 
was  a  young  man  of  good  family,  who  had  come 
to  the  colony  three  years  before,  at  the  age  of 
twenty-two.  He  had  held  some  military  command 
in  France,  though  in  what  rank  does  not  appear. 
It  was  said  that  he  had  been  involved  in  some 
affair  wdiich  made  him  anxious  to  wipe  out  the 
memory  of  the  past  by  a  n<^^^^ worthy  exploit ;  and 
he  had  been  busy  for  some  ':une  among  the  young 
men  of  Montreal,  inviting  them  to  join  him  in  the 
enterprise  he  meditated.  Sixteen  of  them  caught 
his  spirit,  struck  hands  with  him,  and  pledged  their 
word.  They  bound  themselves  by  oath  to  accept 
no  quarter ;  and,  having  gained  Maisonneuve's 
consent,  they  made  their  wills,  confessed,  and 
received  the  sacraments.  As  they  knelt  for  the 
last  time  before  the  altar  in  the  chapel  of  the 
Hotel  Dieu,  that  sturdy  little  population  of  pious 
Indian-fighters  gazed  on  them  wdth  enthusiasm,  not 
unmixed  with  an  envy  which  had  in  it  nothing 
ignoble.  Some  of  the  chief  men  of  Montreal,  with 
the  brave  Charles  Le  Moyne  at  their  head,  begged 
them  to  wait  till  the  spring  sowing  was  over,  that 
they  might  join  them ;  but  Daulac  refused.  He 
was  jealous  of  the  glory  and  the  danger,  and  he 
wished  to  command,  which  he  could  not  have  done 
had  Le  Moyne  been  present. 

The  spirit  of  the  enterprise  was  purely  mediaeval. 
The  enthusiasm  of  honor,  the  enthusiasm  of  adven- 
ture, and  the  enthusiasm  of  faith,  were  its  motive 


74  THE  HEROES  OF  THE  LONG  SAUT.  [ICGO 

forces.  Daiilac  was  a  knight  of  the  early  crusades 
among  the  forests  and  savages  of  the  New  AVorld. 
Yet  the  incidents  of  this  exotic  heroism  are  definite 
and  clear  as  a  tale  of  yesterday.  The  names,  ages, 
and  occupations  of  the  seventeen  young  men  may 
still  be  read  on  the  ancient  register  of  the  parish 
of  Montreal;  and  the  notarial  acts  of  that  year, 
pi  C'served  in  the  records  of  the  city,  contain  minute 
accounts  of  such  projDcrty  as  each  of  them  possessed. 
The  three  eldest  were  of  twenty-eight,  thirty,  and 
thirty-one  years  respectively.  The  age  of  the  rest 
varied  from  twenty-one  to  twenty-seven.  They 
were  of  various  callings,  —  soldiers,  armorers,  lock- 
smiths, lime-burners,  or  settlers  without  trades. 
The  greater  number  had  come  to  the  colony  as 
part  of  the  reinforcement  brought  by  Maisonneuve 
in  1653. 

After  a  solemn  farewell  they  embarked  in  sev- 
eral canoes  well  supplied  Avith  arms  and  ammuni- 
tion. They  were  very  indifferent  canoe-men ;  and 
it  is  said,  that  they  lost  a  w'eek  in  vam  attempts  to 
pass  the  swift  current  of  St.  Anne,  at  the  head  of 
the  island  of  Montreal.  At  length  they  were  more 
successful,  and  entering  the  mouth  of  the  Ottawa, 
crossed  the  Lake  of  TSvo  Mountains,  and  slowly 
advanced  against  the  current. 

Meanwhile,  forty  warriors  of  that  remnant  of  the 
Hurons  who,  in  spite  of  Iroquois  persecutions,  still 
lingered  at  Quebec,  had  set  out  on  a  w^ar-party,  led 
by  the  brave  and  wily  Etienne  Annahotaha,  tliei? 
most  noted  chief.  They  stopped  by  the  way  at 
Three  Rivers,  w^here  they  found  a  band  of  Christian 


1G60.]  INDIAN  ALLIES.  75 

Algonquins  under  a  chief  named  Mituvemeg  An- 
nahotaha  challenged  him  to  a  trial  of  courage,  and 
it  was  agreed  that  they  should  meet  at  Montreal, 
where  they  were  likely  to  find  a  speedy  oppor- 
tunity of  putting  their  mettle  to  the  test.  Thither, 
accordingly,  they  repaired,  the  Algonquin  with 
three  followers,  and  the  Pluron  with  thirty-nine. 

It  was  not  long  before  they  learned  the  departure 
of  Daulac  and  his  companions.  "  For,"  observes 
the  honest  Dollier  de  Casson,  "  the  principal  fault 
of  our  Frenchmen  is  to  talk  too  much."  The  wish 
seized  them  to  share  the  adventure,  and  to  that 
end  the  Huron  chief  asked  the  governor  for  a  letter 
to  Daulac,  to  serve  as  credentials.  Maisonneuve 
hesitated.  His  faith  in  Huron  valor  was  not  great, 
and  he  feared  the  proposed  alliance.  Nevertheless, 
he  at  length  yielded  so  far  as  to  give  Annahotaha 
a  letter  in  which  Daulac  w^'is  told  to  accept  or  reject 
the  proffered  reinforcement  as  he  should  see  fit. 
The  Hurons  and  Algonquins  now  embarked  aad 
paddled  in  pursuit  of  the  seventeen  Frenchmen. 

They  meauAvhile  had  passed  with  difficulty  tho 
smft  current  at  Carillon,  and  about  the  first  of 
May  reached  the  foot  of  the  more  formidable  rapid 
called  the  Long  Saut,  where  a  tumult  of  waters, - 
foaming  among  ledges  and  boulders,  barred  the 
onward  way.  It  was  needless  to  go  farther.  The 
Iroquois  were  sure  to  pass  the  Saut,  and  could  be 
fouo'ht  here  as  well  as  elsewhere.  Just  below  the 
rapid,  where  the  forests  sloped  gently  to  the  shore, 
among  the  bushes  and  stumps  of  the  rough  clearing 
made  in  constructing  it,  stood  a  palisade  fort,  the 


70  THE   HEROES  OF   THE  LONG  SAUT.  [16G0 

^vork  of  an  Algonquin  war-party  in  the  past  autumn. 
It  was  a  mere  enclosure  of  trunks  of  small  trees 
planted  in  a  circle,  and  was  already  ruinous.  Such 
as  it  was,  the  Frenchmen  took  possession  of  it. 
Their  first  care,  one  would  think,  should  have  been 
to  repair  and  strengthen  it ;  but  this  they  seem 
not  to  have  done :  possibly,  in  the  exaltation  of 
their  minds,  they  scorned  such  precaution.  They 
made  their  fires,  and  slung  their  kettles  on  the 
neighboring  shore  ;  and  here  they  were  soon  joined 
by  the  Hurons  and  Algonquins.  Daulac,  it  seems, 
made  no  objection  to  their  company,  and  they  all 
bivouacked  together.  Morning  and  noon  and  night 
they  prayed  in  three  different  tongues ;  and  when 
at  sunset  the  long  reach  of  forests  on  the  farther 
shore  basked  peacefully  in  the  level  rays,  the  rapids 
joined  their  hoarse  music  to  the  notes  of  their  even- 
ing hymn. 

In  a  day  or  two  their  scouts  came  in  with  tidings 
that  two  Iroquois  canoes  w^ere  coming  down  the 
Saut.  Daulac  had  time  to  set  his  men  in  ambush 
among  the  bushes  at  a  point  where  he  thought  the 
strangers  Hkely  to  land.  He  judged  aright.  The 
canoes,  bearing  five  Iroquois,  approached,  and  w^ere 
met  by  a  volley  fired  with  such  precipitation  that 
one  or  more  of  them  escaped  the  shot,  fled  into  the 
forest,  and  told  their  mischance  to  their  main  body, 
two  hundred  in  number,  on  the  river  above.  A 
fleet  of  canoes  suddenly  appeared,  bounding  do^vn 
the  rapids,  filled  with  warriors  eager  for  revenge. 
The  allies  had  barely  time  to  escape  to  their  fort, 
leaving  their  kettles  still  slung  over  the  fires.    The 


1660.]  THE   FORT  ATTACKED.  77 

Iroquois  made  a  hasty  and  desultory  attack,  and 
were  quickly  repulsed.  They  next  opened  a  parley, 
hoping,  no  doubt,  to  gain  some  advantage  by  sur- 
prise. Failing  in  this,  they  set  themselves,  after 
their  custom  on  such  occasions,  to  building  a  rude 
fort  of  their  own  in  the  neighboring  forest. 

This  gave  the  French  a  breathing-time,  and  they 
used  it  for  strengthening  their  defences.  Being 
provided  with  tools,  they  planted  a  row  of  stakes 
within  their  palisade,  to  form  a  double  fence,  and 
"filled  the  intervening  space  with  earth  and  stones 
to  the  height  of  a  man,  leaving  some  twenty  loop- 
holes, at  each  of  which  three  marksmen  were  sta- 
tioned. Their  work  was  still  unfinished  when  the 
Iroquois  were  upon  them  again.  They  had  broken 
to  pieces  the  birch  canoes  of  the  Frencli  and  their 
allies,  and,  kindling  the  bark,  rushed  up  to  pile  it 
blazing  against  the  palisade  ;  but  so  brisk  and  steady 
a  fire  met  them  that  they  recoiled  and  at  last  gave 
way.  They  came  on  again,  and  again  were  driven 
back,  leaving  many  of  their  number  on  the  ground, 
among  them  the  principal  chief  of  the  Senecas. 
Some  of  the  French  dashed  out,  and,  covered  by 
the  fire  of  their  comrades,,  hacked  off  his  head,  and 
stuck  it  on  the  palisade,  while  the  Iroquois  howled 
in  a  frenzy  of  helpless  rage.  They  tried  another 
attack,  and  were  beaten  off  a  third  time. 

This  dashed  their  spirits,  and  they  sent  a  canoe  to 
call  to  their  aid  five  hundred  of  their  warriors  who 
Avere  mustered  near  the  mouth  of  the  Richelieu. 
These  were  the  allies  Avhom,  but  for  this  untoward 
check,  they  were  on  their  way  to  join  for  a  com* 


78  THE  HEROES  OF  THE  LONG   SAUT.  11660 

billed  attack  on  Quebec,  Three  Rivers,  and  Mon- 
treal. It  was  maddening  to  see  their  grand  project 
thwarted  by  a  few  French  and  Indians  ensconced 
in  a  paltry  redoubt,  scarcely  better  than  a  cattle- 
pen  ;  but  they  were  forced  to  digest  the  affront  as 
best  they  might. 

Meanwhile,  crouched  behind  trees  and  logs,  they 
beset  the  fort,  harassing  its  defenders  day  and  night 
with  a  spattering  fire  and  a  constant  menace  of 
attack.  Thus  five  days  passed.  Hunger,  thirst, 
and  want  of  sleep  wrought  fatally  on  the  strength 
of  the  French  and  their  allies,  who,  pent  up  to- 
gether in  their  narrow  prison,  fought  and  prayed 
by  turns.  Deprived  as  they  were  of  water,  they 
could  not  swallow  the  crushed  Indian  corn,  or 
"  hominy,"  which  was  their  only  food.  Some  of 
them,  under  cover  of  a  brisk  fire,  ran  down  to  the 
river  and  filled  such  small  vessels  as  they  had  ;  but 
this  pittance  only  tantalized  their  thirst.  They  dug 
a  hole  in  the  fort,  and  were  rewarded  at  last  by  a 
little  muddy  water  oozing  through  the  clay. 

Among  the  assailants  w^ere  a  number  of  Hurons, 
adopted  by  the  Iroquois  and  fighting  on  their  side. 
These  renegades  now  shouted  to  their  countrymen 
in  the  fort,  telling  them  that  a  fresh  army  was 
close  at  hand ;  that  they  would  soon  be  attacked 
by  seven  or  eight  hundred  warriors ;  and  that  their 
only  hope  was  in  joining  the  Iroquois,  who  would 
receive  them  as  friends.  Annahotaha's  followers, 
half  dead  with  thirst  and  famine,  hstened  to  their 
seducers,  took  the  bait,  and,  one,  two,  or  three  at 
a  time,  chmbed  the  pahsade  and  ran  over  to  the 


1660.J  THE   REINFOE CEMENT.  79 

enemy,  amid  the  hootings  and  execrations  of  those 
whom  they  deserted.  Their  chief  stood  firm ;  and 
when  he  saw  his  nephew,  La  Monche,  join  the  other 
fugitives,  he  fired  his  jDistol  at  him  in  a  rage.  The 
four  Algon quins,  who  had  no  mercy  to  hope  for, 
stood  fast,  w^ith  the  courage  of  despair. 

On  the  fifth  day  an  uproar  of  unearthly  yells 
from  seven  hundred  savage  throats,  mingled  with 
a  clattering  salute  of  musketry,  told  the  French- 
men that  the  expected  reinforcement  had  come ; 
and  soon,  in  the  forest  and  on  the  clearing,  a  crowd 
of  warriors  mustered  for  the  attack.  Knowing 
from  the  Huron  deserters  the  weakness  of  their 
enemy,  they  had  no  doubt  of  an  easy  victory.  They 
advanced  cautiously,  as  was  usual  with  the  Iroquois 
before  their  blood  was  up,  screeching,  leaping  from 
side  to  side,  and  firing  as  they  came  on ;  but  the 
French  were  at  their  posts,  and  every  loophole 
darted  its  tongue  of  fire.  Besides  muskets,  they 
had  heavy  musketoons  of  large  calibre,  which,  scat- 
tering scraps  of  lead  and  iron  among  the  throng  of 
savages,  often  maimed  several  of  them  at  one  dis- 
charge. The  Iroquois,  astonished  at  the  j)ersistent 
vigor  of  the  defence,  fell  back  discomfited.  The  fire 
of  the  French,  who  were  themselves  completely 
under  cover,  had  told  upon  them  with  deadly  effect. 
Three  days  more  wore  away  in  a  series  of  futile 
attacks,  made  with  little  concert  or  vigor;  and 
during  all  this  time  Daulac  and  his  men,  reeling 
with  exhaustion,  fought  and  ^-^rayed  as  before,  sure 
of  a  martyr's  reward. 

The  uncertain,  vacillating  temper  common  to  all 


80  THE   HEROES   OF   THE   LONG   SAUT.  116G0. 

Indians  now  began  to  declare  itself.  Some  of  the 
Iroquois  were  for  going  home.  Others  revolted  at 
the  thought,  and  declared  that  it  would  be  an 
eternal  disgrace  to  lose  so  many  men  at  the  hands 
of  so  paltry  an  enemy,  and  yet  fail  to  take  revenge. 
It  was  resolved  to  make  a  general  assault,  and  vol- 
unteers were  called  for  to  lead  the  attack.  After 
the  custom  on  such  occasions,  bundles  of  small 
sticks  were  thro^Mi  upon  the  ground,  and  those 
picked  them  up  who  dared,  thus  accepting  the 
gage  of  battle,  and  enrolling  themselves  in  the 
forlorn  hope.  No  precaution  was  neglected.  Large 
and  heavy  shields  four  or  five  feet  high  w^ere  made 
by  lashing  together  three  split  logs  with  the  aid  of 
cross-bars.  Covering  themselves  with  these  man- 
telets, the  chosen  band  advanced,  followed  by  the 
motley  throng  of  warriors.  In  spite  of  a  brisk  fire, 
they  reached  the  palisade,  and,  crouching  below 
the  range  of  shot,  hewed  furiously  with  their 
hatchets  to  cut  their  way  through.  The  rest  fol- 
lowed close,  and  swarmed  like  angry  hornets 
around  the  little  fort,  hacking  and  tearing  to 
get  in. 

Daulac  had  crammed  a  large  musketoon  with 
powder,  and  plugged  up  the  muzzle.  Lighting  the 
fuse  inserted  in  it,  he  tried  to  throw  it  over  the  bar- 
rier, to  burst  like  a  grenade  among  the  crowd  of 
savages  without ;  but  it  struck  the  ragged  top  of 
one  of  the  palisades,  fell  back  among  the  French- 
men and  exploded,  killing  and  wounding  several 
of  them,  and  nearly  blinding  others.  In  the  con- 
fusion that  followed,  tlie  Iroquois  got  possession  of 


1660.]  THE   FORT   TAKEN.  81 

the  loopholes,  and,  thrusting  in  their  guns,  fired  on 
ihose  wtliin.  In  a  moment  more  they  had  torn  a 
breach  in  the  palisade  ;  but,  nerved  with  the  energy 
of  desperation,  Daulac  and  his  followers  sprang  to 
defend  it.  Another  breach  was  made,  and  then 
another.  Daulac  was  struck  dead,  but  the  sur- 
vivors kept  up  the  fight.  With  a  sword  or  a 
hatchet  in  one  hand  and  a  knife  in  the  other,  they 
threw  themselves  against  the  throng  of  enemies, 
striking  and  stabbing  with  the  fury  of  madmen ; 
till  the  Iroquois,  despairing  of  taking  them  alive, 
fired  voUey  after  volley  and  shot  them  down.  AU 
was  over,  and  a  burst  of  triumphant  yeUs  pro- 
claimed the  dear-bought  victory. 

Searching  the  pile  of  corpses,  the  victors  found 
four  Frenchmen  still  breathing.  Three  had  scarcely 
a  spark  of  life,  and,  as  no  time  was  to  be  lost,  they 
burned  them  on  the  spot.  The  fourth,  less  for- 
tunate, seemed  likely  to  survive,  and  they  reserved 
him  for  future  torments.  As  for  the  Huron  de- 
serters, their  cowardice  profited  them  little.  The 
Iroquois,  regardless  of  their  promises,  fell  upon  them, 
burned  some  at  once,  and  carried  the  rest  to  their 
villages  for  a  similar  fate.  Five  of  the  number  had 
the  good  fortune  to  escape,  and  it  was  from  them, 
aided  by  admissions  made  long  afterwards  by  the 
Iroquois  themselves,  that  the  French  of  Canada 
derived  all  their  knowledge  of  this  glorious  disaster.^ 

1  When  the  fuijitive  Ilurons  reached  Montreal,  they  were  unwilling 
to  confess  their  desertion  of  the  French,  and  declared  that  tliey  and  some 
others  of  their  people,  to  the  number  of  fourteen,  had  stood  by  tliem  to 
the  last.  This  was  tlie  story  told  by  one  of  them  to  the  Jesuit  Chaumo 
not,  and  by  hina  communicated  in  a  letter  to  his  friends  at  Quebec      The 

6 


82  THE   HEROES   OF  THE  LONG   SAUT.  [1660. 

To  the  colony  it  proved  a  salvation.  The  Iro- 
\quois  had  had  fighting  enough.  If  seventeen 
Frenchmen,  four  Algonquins,  and  one  Huron,  be- 
hind a  picket  fence,  could  hold  seven  hundred  war- 
riors at  bay  so  long,  what  might  they  expect  from 
many  such,  fighting  behind  walls  of  stone  ?  For 
that  year  they  thought  no  more  of  capturing  Quebec 
and  Montreal,  but  went  home  dejected  and  amazed, 
to  howl  over  their  losses,  and  nurse  their  dashed 
courage  for  a  day  of  vengeance. 

substance  of  this  letter  is  given  by  Marie  de  I'Incarnation,  in  her  letter  to 
her  son  of  June  25,  1660.  The  Jesuit  Relation  of  this  year  gives  another 
long  account  of  tiie  afiair,  also  derived  from  tlie  Huron  deserters,  who 
this  time  only  pretended  that  ten  of  their  number  remained  with  the 
French.  They  afterwards  admitted  that  all  had  deserted  but  Annaho- 
taha,  as  appears  from  the  account  drawn  uj)  by  DoUier  de  Casson,  in  his 
Histoire  du  Montreal,  Another  contemporary,  Belmont,  who  heard  the 
story  from  an  Iroquois,  makes  the  same  statement.  All  tliese  writers, 
though  two  of  them  were  not  friendly  to  Montreal,  agree  that  Daulac 
and  his  followers  saved  Canada  from  a  disastrous  invasion.  The  gov- 
ernor, Argenson,  in  a  letter  written  on  the  fourth  of  July  following, 
and  in  his  M€moire  sur  le  sujet  de  la  guerre  des  h-oqiiols,  expresses  the  same 
conviction.  Before  me  is  an  extract,  copied  from  the  Petit  RegiMre  de  la 
Cure  de  Montreal,  giving  the  names  and  ages  of  Daulac's  men.  The 
Abbe  Faillon  took  extraordinary  pains  to  collect  all  the  evidence  touch- 
ing this  afiiiir.  See  his  Histoire  de  la  Colonle  Fran<;aise,  II.  chap.  xv. 
Charlevoix,  very  little  to  bis  credit,  passes  it  over  in  silence,  not  being 
partial  to  MontreaL 


CHAPTER    IV. 

1657-1668. 

THE  DISPUTED    BISHOPRIC. 

Domestic  Strife.  —  Jesuit  and  Sulpitian.  —  Abbe  Quetlus.  — 
Francois  de  Laval.  —  The  Zealots  op  Caen.  —  Gallican  and 
Ultrasiontane.  —  The  Rival  Claimants.  —  Storm  at  Quebec 
—  Laval  Triumphant. 

Canada,  gasping  under  the  Iroquois  tomahawkj 
might,  one  would  suppose,  have  thought  her  cup  of 
tribulation  full,  and,  sated  with  inevitable  woe,  have 
sought  consolation  from  the  wrath  without  in  a 
holy  calm  within.  Not  so,  however ;  for  while  the 
heathen  raged  at  the  door,  discord  rioted  at  the 
hearthstone.  Her  domestic  quarrels  were  wonder- 
ful in  number,  diversity,  and  bitterness.  There  was 
the  standing  quarrel  of  Montreal  and  Quebec,  the 
quarrels  of  priests  with  each  other,  of  priests 
with  the  governor,  and  of  the  governor  with  the 
intendant,  besides  ceaseless  wranglings  of  rival 
traders  and  rival  peculators. 

Some  of  these  disputes  were  local  and  of  no 
special  significance ;  while  others  are  very  inter- 
esting, because,  on  a  remote  and  obscure  theatre, 
they  represent,  sometimes  in  striking  forms,  the 


84  THE   DISPUTED   BISHOPRIC.  fl65i 

contending  passions  and  principles  of  a  most  im- 
portant epoch  of  liistory.  To  begin  with  one 
which  even  to  this  day  has  left  a  root  of  bitter- 
ness behind  it. 

The  association  of  pious  enthusiasts  who  had 
founded  Montreal^  was  reduced  in  1657  to  a  rem- 
nant of  five  or  six  persons,  whose  ebbing  zeal  and 
overtaxed  purses  were  no  longer  equal  to  the  de- 
vout but  arduous  enterprise.  They  begged  the 
priests  of  the  Seminary  of  St.  Sulpice  to  take  it  off 
their  hands.  The  priests  consented ;  and,  though  the 
conveyance  of  the  island  of  Montreal  to  these  its 
new  proprietors  did  not  take  effect  till  some  years 
later,  four  of  the  Sulpitian  fathers,  Queylus,  Souart, 
Gralinee,  and  Allot,  came  out  to  the  colony  and 
took  it  in  charge.  Thus  far  Canada  had  had  no 
bishop,  and  the  Sulpitians  now  aspired  to  give  it 
one  from  their  own  brotherhood.  Many  years 
before,  when  the  RecoUets  had  a  foothold  in  the 
colony,  they  too,  or  at  least  some  of  them,  had  cher- 
ished the  hope  of  giving  Canada  a  bishop  of  their 
own.^  As  for  the  Jesuits,  who  for  nearly  thirty 
years  had  of  themselves  constituted  the  Canadian 
church,  they  had  been  content  thus  far  to  dispense 
with  a  bishop ;  for,  having  no  rivals  in  the  field, 
they  had  felt  no  need  of  episcopal  support. 

The  Sulpitians  put  forward  Queylus  as  their 
candidate  for  the  new  bishopric.  The  assembly 
of  French  clergy  approved,  and  Cardinal  Mazarin 

'  See  Jesuits  in  North  America,  chap.  xv. 

2  M€mo{re  qui  faict  pour  I'affaire  des  P.P.  Recollects  de  la  prouince  de  St. 
Denys  ditte  de  Paris  touchant  le  droict  qu'ils  ont  depuis  Van  1615,  d'aller  en 
Quanada  soubs  l'autliorit€  de  Sa  Maiest€,  etc.     1637. 


lti57.J  JESUIT  AND   SULPITIAN.  85 

himself  seemed  to  sanction,  the  nomination.  The 
Jesuits  saw  that  their  time  of  action  was  come.  If 
was  they  who  had  borne  the  heat  and  burden  of 
the  day,  the  toils,  privations,  and  martyrdoms,  while 
as  yet  the  Sulpitians  had  done  nothing  and  en- 
dured nothing.  If  any  body  of  ecclesiastics  was 
to  have  the  nomination  of  a  bishop,  it  clearly  be- 
longed to  them,  the  Jesuits.  Their  might,  too, 
matched  their  right.  They  were  strong  at  court ; 
Mazarin  withdrew  his  assent,  and  the  Jesuits  were 
invited  to  name  a  bishop  to  their  liking. 

Meanwhile  the  Sulpitians,  despairmg  of  the  bish- 
opric, had  sought  their  solace  elsewhere.  Ships 
bound  for  Canada  had  usually  sailed  from  ports 
within  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Archbishop  of  Rouen, 
and  the  departing  missionaries  had  received  their 
ecclesiastical  powers  from  him,  till  he  had  learned 
to  regard  Canada  as  an  outlying  section  of  his  dio- 
cese. Not  unwilling  to  assert  his  claims,  he  now 
made  Queylus  his  vicar-general  for  all  Canada, 
thus  clothing  him  with  episcopal  powers,  and  plac- 
ino;  him  over  the  heads  of  the  Jesuits.  Quevlus, 
in  effect,  though  not  in  name,  a  bishop,  left  his 
companion  Souart  in  the  spiritual  charge  of  Mon- 
treal, came  down  to  Quebec,  announced  his  new 
dignity,  and  assumed  the  curacy  of  the  parish. 
The  Jesuits  received  him  at  first  with  their  usual 
urbanity,  an  exercise  of  self-control  rendered  more 
easy  by  their  knowledge  that  one  more  potent  than 
Queylus  would  soon  arrive  to  supplant  him.^ 

'  A  detailed  account  of  the  experiences  of  Queylus  at  Quebec,  imme- 
diately after  his  arrival,  as  related  by  himself,  will  be  found  in  a  memoir 


86  THE  DISPUTED   BISHOPRIC.  [IG'o  . 

The  vicar  of  the  Archbishop  of  Rouen  was  a 
man  of  many  virtues,  devoted  to  good  works,  as 
he  understood  them;  rich,  for  the  Sulpitians  were 
under  no  vow  of  poverty  ;  generous  in  alms- 
giving, busy,  indefatigable,  overflowing  with  zeal, 
vivacious  in  temperament  and  excitable  in  temper, 
impatient  of  opposition,  and,  as  it  seems,  incapable, 
like  his  destined  rival,  of  seeing  any  way  of  doing 
good  but  his  own.  Though  the  Jesuits  were  out- 
wardly courteous,  their  partisans  would  not  listen 
to  the  new  cure's  sermons,  or  listened  only  to  find 
fault,  and  germs  of  discord  grew  vigorously  in  the 
parish  of  Quebec.  Prudence  was  not  among  the 
virtues  of  Queylus.  He  launched  two  sermons 
against  the  Jesuits,  in  which  he  likened  liimself 
to  Christ  and  them  to  the  Pharisees.  "  Who,"  he 
supposed  them  to  say,  "  is  this  Jesus,  so  beloved  of 
the  people,  who  comes  to  cast  discredit  on  us,  who 
for  thirty  or  forty  years  have  governed  church  and 
state  here,  with  none  to  dispute  us?"^  He  de- 
nounced such  of  his  hearers  as  came  to  pick  flaws 
in  liis  discourse,  and  told  them  it  would  be  better 
for  their  souls  if  they  lay  in  bed  at  home,  sick  of 
a  "  good  quartan  fever."  His  ire  was  greatly  kin- 
dled by  a  letter  of  the  Jesuit  Pijart,  which  fell  into 
his  hands  through  a  female  adherent,  the  pious 

by  the  Sulpitian  Allet,  in  Morale  Pratique  des  J€suites,  XXXI V.  chap, 
xii.  In  chapter  ten  of  the  same  volume  the  writer  says  that  he  visited 
Queylus  at  Mont  St.  Valerien,  after  his  return  from  Canada.  "II  me 
prit  a  part ;  nous  nous  promenames  assez  longtemps  dans  le  jardin  et  il 
m'ouvrit  son  coeur  sur  la  conduite  des  Je'suites  dans  le  Canada  et  partout 
ailU'urs.  Messieurs  de  St.  Sulpice  savent  bien  ce  qu'il  m'en  a  pu  dire,  et  je 
•uis  assurd  qu'ils  ne  diront  pas  que  je  I'ai  dfi  prendre  pour  des  mensonges." 
*  Journal  des  J^suites,  Oct.,  1657. 


1657.1  LAVAL.  87 

Madame  d'Aillebout,  and  in  which  that  father  de- 
clared that  he,  Queylus,  was  waging  war  on  him 
and  his  brethren  more  savagely  than  the  Iroquois.' 
"  He  was  as  crazy  at  sight  of  a  Jesuit,"  writes  an 
adverse  biographer,  "  as  a  mad  dog  at  sight  of 
water."  ^  He  cooled,  however,  on  being  shown 
certain  papers  which  proved  that  his  position  was 
neither  so  strong  nor  so  secure  as  he  had  supposed ; 
and  the  governor,  Argenson,  at  length  persuaded 
him  to  retire  to  Montreal.^ 

The  queen  mother,  Anne  of  Austria,  always  in- 
clined to  the  Jesuits,  had  invited  Father  Le  Jeune, 
who  was  then  in  France,  to  make  choice  of  a  bishop 
for  Canada.  It  was  not  an  easy  task.  No  Jesuit 
was  eligible,  for  the  sage  policy  of  Loyola  had  ex- 
cluded members  of  the  order  from  the  bishopric. 
The  signs  of  the  times  portended  trouble  for  the 
Canadian  church,  and  there  was  need  of  a  bishop 
who  would  assert  her  claims  and  fight  her  battles. 
Such  a  man  could  not  be  made  an  instrument  of 
the  Jesuits ;  therefore  there  was  double  need  that 
he  should  be  one  with  them  in  sympathy  and 
purpose.  They  made  a  sagacious  choice.  Le 
Jeune  presented  to  the  queen  mother  the  name 
of  Francjois  Xavier  de  Laval-Montmorency,  Abbe 
de  Montigny. 

Laval,  for  by    this  name  he    was   thenceforth -> 
known,  belonged  to  one  of  the  proudest  families 
of  Europe,  and,  churchman  as   he  was,  there  is 

1  Journal  des  Je'sidtes,  Oct.,  1657. 

2  Viger,  Notice  Ilistorique  sur  l'Ahh€  de  Queylus. 
*  Papiers  d' Argeniton. 


88  THE  DISPUTED   BISHOPRIC.  11657 

much  in  his  career  to  remind  ns  that  in  liis  veins 
ran  the  blood  of  the  stern  Constable  of  France, 
Anne  de  Montmorency.  Nevertheless,  his  thoughts 
from  childhood  had  turned  towards  the  church,  or, 
as  his  biographers  will  have  it,  all  his  aspirations 
were  heavenward.  He  received  the  tonsure  at  the 
age  of  nine.  The  Jesuit  Bagot  confirmed  and 
moulded  his  youtliful  predilections ;  and,  at  a  later 
period,  he  was  one  of  a  band  of  young  zealots, 
formed  under  the  auspices  of  Bernieres  de  Lou- 
vigni,  royal  treasurer  at  Caen,  who,  though  a  lay- 
man, was  reputed  almost  a  saint.  It  was  Bernieres 
who  had  borne  the  chief  part  in  the  pious  fraud  of 
the  pretended  marriage  through  which  Madame  de 
la  Peltrie  escaped  from  her  father's  roof  to  become 
foundress  of  the  Ursulines  of  Quebec.^  He  had 
since  renounced  the  world,  and  dwelt  at  Caen,  in  a 
house  attached  to  an  Ursuline  convent,  and  known 
as  the  Hermitage.  Here  he  lived  like  a  monk,  in 
the  midst  of  a  community  of  young  priests  and 
devotees,  who  looked  to  him  as  their  spiritual  direc- 
tor, and  whom  he  trained  in  the  maxims  and  prac- 
tices of  the  most  extravagant,  or,  as  his  admirers 
say,  the  most  sublime  ultramontane  piety .^ 

The  conflict  between  the  Jesuits  and  the  Jan- 
senists  was  then  at  its  height.  The  Jansenist  doc- 
trines of  election  and  salvation  by  grace,  which 
sapped  the  power  of  the  priesthood  and  impugned 
the  authority  of  the  Pope  himself  in  his  capacity 
of  holder  of  the  keys  of  heaven,  w^ere  to  the  Jesuits 

1  See  Jesuits  in  North  America,  chap.  xiv. 

2  La  Tour,  Vie  d«  Laval,  gives  his  maxims  at  length. 


1657-G2.]  THE   HERMITAGE   OF   CAEN.  89 

an  abomination ;  while  the  rigid  morals  of  the  Jan- 
senists  stood  in  stern  contrast  to  the  pliancy  of 
Jesuit  casuistry.  Bernieres  and  his  disciples  were 
zealous,  not  to  say  fanatical,  partisans  of  the  Jesuits. 
There  is  a  long  account  of  the  "  Hermitage  "  and 
its  inmates  from  the  pen  of  the  famous  Jansenist, 
Nicole ;  an  opponent,  it  is  true,  but  one  whose 
qualities  of  mind  and  character  give  weight  to  his 
testimony.^ 

"  In  this  famous  Hermitage,"  says  Nicole,  "  the 
late  Sieur  de  Bernieres  brought  up  a  number  of 
young  men,  to  whom  he  taught  a  sort  of  sublime 
and  transcendental  devotion  called  passive  prayer, 
because  in  it  the  mind  does  not  act  at  all,  but 
merely  receives  the  divine  operation ;  and  this 
devotion  is  the  source  of  all  those  visions  and  reve 
lations  in  Avhich  the  Hermitage  is  so  prolific."  In 
short,  he  and  his  disciples  were  mystics  of  the  most 
exalted  type.  Nicole  pursues  :  "  After  having  thus 
subtilized  their  minds,  and  almost  sublimed  them 
into  vapor,  he  rendered  them  capable  of  detecting 
Jansenists  under  any  disguise,  insomuch  that  some 
of  his  followers  said  that  they  knew  them  by  the 
scent,  as  dogs  know  their  game ;  but  the  aforesaid 
Sieur  de  Bernieres  denied  that  they  had  so  subtile 
a  sense  of  smell,  and  said  that  the  mark  by  which 
he  detected  Jansenists  was  their  disapproval  of  his 
teachings  or  their  opposition  to  the  Jesuits." 

The  zealous  band  at  the  Hermitage  was  aided  in 

1  M€moire  pour  faire  connoi'stre  I'esprit  et  la  conduite  de  la  Compaqm* 
€iahUe  en  la  ville  de  Caen,  appellee  V Hermitage  (Bibliotlifeque  Natijnale 
Tmprimds   Partie  R(?serv^e).    Written  in  1660. 


90  THE   DISPUTED    BISHOPRIC.  [1657-62 

its  efforts  to  extirpate  error  by  a  sort  of  external 
association  in  the  city  of  Caen,  consisting  of  mer- 
chants, priests,  officers,  petty  nobles,  and  others, 
all  inspired  and  guided  by  Bernieres.  They  met 
every  week  at  the  Hermitage,  or  at  the  houses  of 
each  other.  Similar  associations  existed  in  other 
cities  of  France,  besides  a  fraternity  in  the  Rue 
St.  Dominique  at  Paris,  which  was  formed  by  the 
Jesuit  Bagot,  and  seems  to  have  been  the  parent, 
in  a  certain  sense,  of  the  others.  They  all  acted 
together  when  any  important  object  was  in  \dew. 

Bernieres  and  his  disciples  felt  that  God  had 
chosen  them  not  only  to  watch  over  doctrine  and 
discipline  in  convents  and  in  families,  but  also  to 
supply  the  prevalent  deficiency  of  zeal  in  bishops 
and  other  dignitaries  of  the  church.  They  kept,  too, 
a  constant  eye  on  the  humbler  clergy,  and  when- 
ever a  new  preacher  appeared  in  Caen,  two  of  their 
number  were  deputed  to  hear  his  sermon  and  report 
upon  it.  If  he  chanced  to  let  fall  a  word  concern- 
ing the  grace  of  God,  they  denounced  him  for  Jan- 
senistic  heresy.  Such  commotion  was  once  raised 
in  Caen  by  charges  of  sedition  and  Jansenism, 
brought  by  the  Hermitage  against  priests  and  lay- 
men hitherto  without  attaint,  that  the  Bishop  of 
Bayeux  thought  it  necessary  to  interpose ;  but  even 
he  was  forced  to  pause,  daunted  by  the  insinuations 
of  Bernieres  that  he  was  in  secret  sjanpathy  witli 
the  obnoxious  doctrines. 

Thus  the  Hermitage  and  its  affiliated  societies 
constituted  themselves  a  sort  of  inquisition  in  the 
interest  of  the  Jesuits;  "for  what,"  asks  Nicole, 


J657-62.]  THE  ZEALOTS  AT   CAEN.  91 

"  might  not  be  expected  from  persons  of  weak  minds 
and  atrabilious  dispositions,  dried  up  by  constant 
fasts,  vigils,  and  other  austerities,  besides  medita- 
tions of  three  or  four  hours  a  day,  and  told  con- 
tinually that  the  church  is  in  imminent  danger  of 
ruin  through  the  machinations  of  the  Jansenists, 
who  are  represented  to  them  as  persons  who  wish 
to  break  up  the  foundations  of  the  Christian  faith 
and  subvert  the  mystery  of  the  Incarnation ;  who 
believe  neither  in  transubstantiation,  the  invocation 
of  saints,  nor  indulgences ;  who  wish  to  abolish  the 
sacrifice  of  the  Mass  and  the  sacrament  of  Penitence, 
oppose  the  worship  of  the  Holy  Virgin,  deny  free- 
will and  substitute  predestination  in  its  place,  and, 
in  fine,  conspire  to  overthrow  the  authority  of  the 
Supreme  Pontiff." 

Among  other  anecdotes,  Nicole  tells  the  follow- 
ing :  One  of  the  young  zealots  of  the  Hermitage 
took  it  into  his  head  that  all  Caen  was  full  of  Jan- 
senists, and  that  the  cures  of  the  place  were  in  league 
with  them.  He  inoculated  four  others  with  this 
notion,  and  they  resolved  to  warn  the  people  of 
their  danger.  They  accordingly  made  the  tour  of 
the  streets,  without  hats  or  collars,  and  with  coats 
unbuttoned,  though  it  was  a  cold  winter  day,  stop- 
ping every  moment  to  proclaim  in  a  loud  voice 
that  all  the  cures,  excepting  two,  whom  they  named, 
were  abettors  of  the  Jansenists.  A  mob  was  soon 
following  at  their  heels,  and  there  was  great  excite- 
ment. The  magistrates  chanced  to  be  in  session, 
and,  hearing  of  the  disturbance,  they  sent  consta- 
bles to  arrest  the  authors  of  it.     Being  brought  to 


92  THE  DISPUTED  BISHOPRIC.  [1657-62 

the  bar  of  justice  and  questioned  by  the  judge,  they 
answered  that  they  were  doing  the  work  of  God, 
and  were  ready  to  die  in  the  cause ;  that  Caen  was 
full  of  Jansenists,  and  that  the  cures  had  declared 
in  their  favor,  inasmuch  as  they  denied  any  knowl- 
edge of  their  existence.  Four  of  the  five  were 
locked  up  for  a  few  days,  tried,  and  sentenced  to 
a  fine  of  a  hundred  livres,  with  a  promise  of  further 
punishment  should  they  again  disturb  the  peace. ^ 

The  fifth,  being  pronounced  out  of  his  wits  by 
the  physicians,  was  sent  home  to  his  mother,  at  a 
village  near  Argentan,  where  tw^o  or  three  of  his 
fellow  zealots  presently  joined  him.  Among  them, 
they  persuaded  his  mother,  who  had  hitherto  been 
devoted  to  household  cares,  to  exchange  them  for 
a  life  of  mystical  devotion.  "  These  three  or  four 
persons,"  says  Nicole,  "  attracted  others  as  imbecile 
as  themselves."  Amono;  these  recruits  w^ere  a  num- 
ber  of  women,  and  several  priests.  After  various 
acts  of  fanaticism,  "  two  or  three  days  before  last 
Pentecost,"  proceeds  the  narrator,  "  they  all  set 
out,  men  and  women,  for  Argentan.  The  priests 
had  d]*awn  the  skirts  of  their  cassocks  over  their 
heads,  and  tied  them  about  their  necks  w^ith  twisted 
straw.  Some  of  the  women  had  their  heads  bare, 
and  their  hair  streaming  loose  over  their  shoulders. 
They  picked  up  filth  on  the  road,  and  rubbed  their 
faces  with  it,  and  the  most  zealous  ate  it,  saying 
that  it  was  necessary  to  mortify  the  taste.     Some 


1  Nicole  is  not  tlie  only  authority  for  this  story.  It  is  also  told  by  a 
very  different  writer.  See  Notice  Historique  de  I'Ahbaye  de  Ste,  Clairt 
d' Argentan,   124. 


1657-62.1  MORE  EXTRAVAGANCE.  1)3 

held  stones  in  their  hands,  which  they  knocked 
together  to  draw  the  attention  of  the  passers-by. 
They  had  a  leader,  whom  they  were  bound  to  obey ; 
and  when  this  leader  saw  any  mud-hole  particularly 
deep  and  dirty,  he  commanded  some  of  the  party 
to  roll  themselves  in  it,  which  they  did  forthwith.^ 

"  After  this  fashion,  they  entered  the  town  of 
Argentan,  and  marched,  two  by  two,  through  all 
the  streets,  crying  with  a  loud  voice  that  the  Faith 
was  perishing,  and  that  whoever  wished  to  save  it 
must  quit  the  country  and  go  with  them  to  Canada, 
whither  they  were  soon  to  repair.  It  is  said  that 
they  still  hold  this  purpose,  and  that  their  leaders 
declare  it  revealed  to  them  that  they  will  find  a 
vessel  ready  at  the  first  port  to  which  Providence 
directs  them.  The  reason  why  they  choose  Canada 
for  an  asylum  is,  that  Monsieur  de  Montigny 
(Laval),  Bishop  of  Petra3a,  who  lived  at  the  Her- 
mitage a  long  time,  w^here  he  was  instructed  in 
mystical  theology  by  Monsieur  de  Bernieres,  exer- 
cises episcopal  functions  there  ;  and  that  the  Jesuits, 
who  are  their  oracles,  reign  in  that  country." 

This  adventure,  like  the  other,  ended  in  a  colli- 
sion with  the  police.  "  The  priests,"  adds  Nicole, 
"  were  arrested,  and  are  now  waiting  trial,  and  the 
rest  were  treated  as  mad,  and  sent  back  with  shame 
and  confusion  to  the  places  whence  they  liad 
come." 

1  These  proceedings  were  probably  intended  to  produce  the  result 
which  was  the  constant  object  of  the  mystics  of  the  Hermitage  ;  namely, 
the  "  annihilation  of  self,"-  with  a  view  to  a  perfect  union  with  God.  To 
become  despised  of  men  was  an  important,  if  not  an  essential,  step  in  this 
mystical  suicide. 


94  THE  DISPUTED  BISHOPRIC.  [1657-62 

Thoagh  these  pranks  took  place  after  Laval  had 
left  the  Hermitage,  they  serve  to  characterize  the 
school  in  which  he  was  formed ;  or,  more  justly 
speaking,  to  show  its  most  extravagant  side.  That 
others  did  not  share  the  views  of  the  celebrated 
Jansenist,  may  be  gathered  from  the  following  pas- 
sage of  the  fmieral  oration  pronounced  over  the 
body  of  Laval  half  a  century  later :  — 

"  The  humble  abbe  was  next  transported  into 
the  terrestrial  paradise  of  Monsieur  de  Bernieres. 
It  is  thus  that  I  call,  as  it  is  fitting  to  call  it,  that 
famous  Hermitage  of  Caen,  where  the  seraphic 
author  of  the  '  Christian  Literior '  {Bernieres)  trans- 
formed into  angels  all  those  who  had  the  happiness 
to  be  the  companions  of  his  solitude  and  of  his 
spiritual  exercises.  It  was  there  that,  during  four 
years,  the  fervent  abbe  drank  the  living  and  abound- 
ing waters  of  grace  which  have  since  flowed  so  be- 
nignly over  this  land  of  Canada.  In  this  celestial 
abode  liis  ordinary  occupations  were  prayer,  mor- 
tification, instruction  of  the  poor,  and  spiritual 
readings  or  conferences;  his  recreations  were  to 
labor  in  the  hospitals,  wait  upon  the  sick  and  poor, 
make  their  beds,  dress  their  wounds,  and  aid  them 
in  their  most  repulsive  needs."  ^ 

In  truth,  Laval's  zeal  was  boundless,  and  the 
exploits  of  self-humihation  recorded  of  hun  were 
unspeakably  revolting.^  Bernieres  himself  regarded 

1  Eloge  funehre  de  Messire  Francois  Xavier  de  Laval-Montmorency ,  par 
Messire  de  la  Colombiere,  Vicaire  G€n€raL 

2  See  La  Tour,  Vie  de  Laval,  Liv.  I.  Some  of  them  were  closely  akin 
to  that  of  the  fanatics  mentioned  above,  who  ate  "  immondices  d'animaux" 
to  mortify  the  taste. 


1657-62.1  GALLICAN  AND   ULTRAMONTANE.        "  95 

him  as  a  light  by  which  to  guide  his  own  steps  in 
ways  of  hohness.  He  made  jom^neys  on  foot  about 
the  country,  disguised,  penniless,  begging  from 
door  to  door,  and  courting  scorn  and  opprobrium, 
"  in  order,"  says  his  biographer,  "  that  he  might 
suffer  for  the  love  of  God."  Yet,  though  living  at 
this  time  in  a  state  of  habitual  rehgious  exaltation, 
he  was  by  nature  no  mere  dreamer ;  and  in  what- 
ever heights  his  spirit  might  wander,  his  feet  were 
always  planted  on  the  solid  earth.  His  flaming 
zeal  had  for  its  servants  a  hard,  practical  nature, 
perfectly  fitted  for  the  battle  of  life,  a  narrow  in- 
tellect, a  stiff  and  persistent  will,  and,  as  his  ene 
mies  thought,  the  love  of  domination  native  to  hif^ 
blood. 

Two  great  parties  divided  the  Catholics  of-/ 
France,  —  the  Gallican  or  national  party,  and  the 
ultramontane  or  papal  party.  The  first,  resting 
on  the  Scriptural  injunction  to  give  tribute  to 
Cassar,  held  that  to  the  king,  the  Lord's  anointed, 
belonged  the  temporal,  and  to  the  church  the 
spiritual  power.  It  held  also  that  the  laws  and 
customs  of  the  church  of  France  could  not  be 
broken  at  the  bidding  of  the  Pope.^  The  ultra- 
montane party,  on  the  other  hand,  maintained  that 
the  Pope,  Christ's  vicegerent  on  earth,  was  su- 
preme over  earthly  rulers,  and  should  of  right  hold 
jurisdiction  over  the  clergy  of  all  Christendom,  Avith 
powers  of  appointment  and  removal.  Hence  they 
claimed  for  him  the  right  of  nominating  bishops  in 

'  See  tlie  famous  Quatre  Articles  of  1682,  in  wl'icli  tlie  liberties  of  the 
Gallican  rhurcli  are  asserted. 


>~V 


96  THE   DISPUTED   BISHOPRIC.  [165/. 

France.  This  had  anciently  been  exercised  by 
assembhes  of  the  French  clergj^,  but  in  the  reign  of 
Francis  I.  the  king  and  the  Pope  had  combined  to 
wrest  it  from  them  by  the  Concordat  of  Bologna. 
Under  this  compact,  wliich  was  still  in  force,  the 
Pope  appointed  French  bishops  on  the  nomination 
of  the  king,  a  plan  which  displeased  the  Galli- 
cans,  and  did  not  satisfy  the  ultramontanes. 

The  Jesuits,  then  as  now,  were  the  most  forcible 
exponents  of  ultramontane  principles.  The  church 
to  rule  the  world ;  the  Pope  to  rule  the  church ; 
the  Jesuits  to  rule  the  Pope  :  such  was  and  is  the 
simple  programme  of  the  Order  of  Jesus,  and  to  it 
they  have  held  fast,  except  on  a  few  rare  occa- 
.sions  of  misunderstanding  with  the  Vicegerent  of 
Christ.^  In  the  question  of  papal  supremacy,  as 
in  most  things  else,  Laval  was  of  one  mind  with 
them. 

Those  versed  in  such  histories  will  not  be  sur- 
prised to  learn  that,  when  he  received  the  royal 
nomination,  humility  would  not  permit  him  to 
accept  it;  nor  that,  being  urged,  he  at  length 
bowed  in  resignation,  still  protesting  his  unworthi- 
ness.  Nevertheless,  the  royal  nomination  did  not 
take  effect.  The  ultramontanes  outflanked  both 
the  king  and  the  Galileans,  and  by  adroit  strategy 
made  the  new  prelate  completely  a  creature  of  the 
papacy.  Instead  of  appointing  him  Bishop  of  Que- 
bec, in  accordance  with  the  royal  initiative,  the 
Pope  made  him   his  vicar   apostolic  for  Canada, 

1  For  example,  not  long  after  this  time,  the  Jesuits,  having  a  dispute 
with  Innocent  XL,  threw  tliemselves  into  the  party  of  opposition. 


1657.]  LAVAL  AND   QUEYLUS.  97 

thus  evading  the  king's  nomination,  and  affirming 
that  Canada,  a  comitry  of  infidel  savages,  was  ex- 
cluded from  the  concordat,  and  under  his  (the 
Pope's)  jurisdiction  pure  and  simple.  The  GaUi- 
cans  were  enraged.  The  Archbishop  of  Rouen 
vainly  opposed,  and  the  parliaments  of  Rouen  and 
of  Paris  vainly  protested.  The  papal  party  pre- 
vailed. The  king,  or  rather  Mazarin,  gave  his 
consent,  subject  to  certain  conditions,  the  chief  of 
which  was  an  oath  of  allegiance  ;  and  Laval,  grand 
vicar  apostolic,  decorated  with  the  title  of  Bishop 
of  Petraea,  sailed  for  his  wilderness  diocese  in  the 
spring  of  1659.^  He  was  but  thirty-six  years  of 
age,  but  even  when  a  boy  he  could  scarcely  have 
seemed  young. 

Queylus,  for  a  time,  seemed  to  accept  the  situa- 
tion, and  tacitly  admit  the  claim  of  Laval  as  his 
ecclesiastical  superior ;  but,  stimulated  by  a  letter 
from  the  Archbishop  of  Rouen,  he  soon  threw  him- 
self into  an  attitude  of  opposition,"  in  wliich  the 
popularity  which  his  generosity  to  the  poor  had 
won  for  him  gave  him  an  advantage  very  annoying 
to  his  adversary.  The  quarrel,  it  will  be  seen,  was 
three-sided,  —  Gallican  against  ultramontane,  Sul- 
pitian  against  Jesuit,  Montreal  against  Quebec./ 
To  Montreal  the  recalcitrant  abbe,  after  a  brief 
\4sit  to  Quebec,  had  again  retired ;  but  even  here, 
girt  with  his  Sulpitian  brethren  and  compassed  with 

'  Compare  La  Tour,  Vie  de  Laval,  witli  tlie  lonj^  statement  in  Faillon, 
Coloiue  Frunqaise,  II.  315-335.  Faillon  gives  various  documents  in  full, 
including  the  royal  letter  of  nomination  and  tliose  in  wliich  the  King 
gives  a  rehictant  consent  to  the  appointment  of  the  vicar  apostolic. 

2  Journal  des  J^suites,  Sejd.,  1657. 

7 


98  THE  DISPUTED   BISHOPRIC  [ICS'J 

partisans,  the  arm  of  the  vicar  apostohc  was  long 
enough  to  reach  him. 

By  temperament  and  conviction  Laval  hated  a 
divided  authority,  and  the  very  shadow  of  a  schism 
was  an  abomination  in  his  sight.  The  young  king, 
who,  though  abundantly  jealous  of  his  royal  power, 
was  for.ced  to  conciliate  the  j^apal  party,  had  sent 
instructions  to  Argenson,  the  governor,  to  support 
Laval,  and  prevent  divisions  in  the  Canadian 
church.^  These  instructions  served  as  the  pretext 
of  a  procedure  sufficiently  summary.  A  squad  of 
soldiers,  commanded,  it  is  said,  by  the  governor 
himself,  went  up  to  Montreal,  brought  the  indignant 
Queylus  to  Quebec,  and  shipped  him  thence  for 
France.-  By  these  means,  writes  Father  Lalemant. 
order  reiorned  for  a  season  in  the  church. 

It  was  but  for  a  season.  Queylus  was  not  a 
man  to  bide  his  defeat  in  tranquillity,  nor  were  his 
brother  Sulpitians  disposed  to  silent  acquiescence. 
Laval,  on  his  part,  was  not  a  man  of  half  measures. 
He  had  an  agent  in  France,  and  partisans  strong  at 
court.  Fearing,  to  borrow  the  words  of  a  Catholic 
writer,  that  the  return  of  Queylus  to  Canada  would 
prove  "  injurious  to  the  glory  of  God,"  he  bestirred 
himself  to  prevent  it.  The  young  king,  then  at 
Aix,  on  liis  famous  journey  to  the  frontiers  of 
Spiun  to  marry  the  Infanta,  was  induced  to  write 
to  Queylus,  ordering  him  to  remain  in  France.^ 
Queylus,  however,  repaired  to  Eome ;    but  even 

1  Li'ttre  du  Roi  a  d' Argenson,  14  ]\tai,  1659. 

2  Belmont,  Uistoire  du  Canada,  a.d.  1659.  Memoir  by  Abbe  d'Allet, 
in  Monde  Pratique  des  Je'suites,  XXXIV.  725. 

'  Lettre  du  Roi  a  Queylus,  27  Feb.,  1660. 


16u0-61.]  ANOTHER   STORM.  99 

against  this  movement  j)ro vision  had  been  made  : 
accusations  of  Jansenism  had  gone  before  him,  and 
he  met  a  cold  welcome.  Nevertheless,  as  he  had 
powerftd  friends  near  the  Pope,  he  succeeded  in 
removing  these  adverse  impressions,  and  even  in 
obtaining  certain  bulls  relating  to  the  establislnnent 
of  the  parish  of  Montreal,  and  favorable  to  the  Sul- 
j^itians.  Provided  with  these,  he  set  at  nought  the 
king's  letter,  embarked  under  an  assumed  name, 
and  sailed  to  Quebec,  where  he  made  his  aj^pear- 
ance  on  the  3d  of  Augtist,  1661,^  to  the  extreme 
wrath  of  Laval. 

A  ferment  ensued.  Laval's  partisans  charged 
the  Sulpitlans  with  Jansenism  and  opposition  to  the 
will  of  the  Pope.  A  preacher  more  zealous  than 
the  rest  denounced  them  as  priests  of  Antichrist ; 
and  as  to  the  bulls  in  their  favor,  it  was  affirmed 
tliat  Queylus  had  obtained  them  by  fraud  from  the 
Holy  Father.  Laval  at  once  issued  a  mandate  for- 
bidding him  to  proceed  to  Montreal  till  ships  should 
arrive  Avith  instructions  from  the  Kiniir.^  At  the 
.«;ame  time  he  demanded  of  the  governor  that  he 
should  interpose  the  civil  power  to  prevent  Queylus 
from  leaving  Quebec.^  As  Argenson,  who  wished 
to  act  as  peacemaker  between  the  belligerent 
fathers,  did  not  at  once  take  the  sharp  measures 
required  of  hmi,  Laval  renewed  his  demand  on  the 
next  day,  calling  on  him,  in  the  name  of  God  and 
the  king,  to  compel  Queylus  to  yield  the  obedience 

*  Joxtrnul  des  J^suiles,  Aoxit,  IGGl. 

2  LeIIre  dc  Lnval  a  Qiifylns,  4  Aout,  1G61. 

'  Lettre  de  Laval  u  d' Argensou,  Ibid. 


100  THE  DISPUTED  BISHOPRIC.  [1G61 

due  to  liim,  the  vicar  apostolic.^  At  the  same 
time  he  sent  another  to  the  offending  abbe,  threat- 
ening to  suspend  him  from  priestly  functions  if  he 
persisted  in  his  rebellion.^ 

The  incorrigible  Queylus,  who  seems  to  have 
Hved  for  some  months  in  a  simmer  of  continual  in- 
dignation, set  at  nought  the  vicar  apostolic  as  he 
had  set  at  nought  the  king,  took  a  boat  that  very- 
night,  and  set  out  for  Montreal  under  cover  of  dark- 
ness. Great  was  the  ire  of  Laval  when  he  heard 
the  news  in  the  morning.  He  despatched  a  letter 
after  him,  declaring  him  suspended  ipso  facto,  if  he 
did  not  instantly  return  and  make  his  submission.'^ 
This  letter,  like  the  rest,  failed  of  the  desired  effect ; 
but  the  governor,  who  had  received  a  second  man- 
date from  the  king  to  support  Laval  and  prevent 
a  schism,*  now  reluctantly  interposed  the  secular 
arm,  and  Queylus  was  again  compelled  to  return 
to  France.^ 

His  expulsion  was  a  Sulpitian  defeat.  Laval, 
always  zealous  for  unity  and  centralization,  had 
some  time  before  taken  steps  to  repress  what  he 
I'egarded  as  a  tendency  to  independence  at  Mon- 
treal. In  the  preceding  year  he  had  -written  to  the 
Pope  :  "There  are  some  secular  priests  {Sulpitians) 
at  Montreal,  whom  the  Abbe  de  Queylus  brought 
out  with  him  in  1657,  and  I  have  named  for  the 

1  Lettre  de  Laval  a  d'Argenson,  5  Aout,  1661. 

2  Lettre  de  Laval  a  Queylus,  Ibid, 
»  Ibid,  6  Aoit,  1661. 

*  Lettre  du  Roi  a  d'Argenson,  13  Mai,  1660. 

*  For  the  governor's  attitude  in  this  affair,  consult  the  Papiers  d'Argen- 
son,  containing  his  despatches. 


1661.]  VICTORY  OF  LAVAL.  101 

functions  of  cur^  the  one  among  them  whom  1 
thought  the  least  disobedient."  The  bulls  which 
Queylus  had  obtained  from  Eome  related  to  this 
very  curacy,  and  greatly  disturbed  the  mind  of  the 
vicar  apostolic.  He  accordingly  wrote  again  to  the 
Pope  :  "  I  pray  your  Holiness  to  let  me  know  your 
will  concerning  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Archbishop 
of  Rouen.  M.  I'Abbe  de  Queylus,  who  has  come 
out  this  year  as  vicar  of  this  archbishop,  has  tried  to 
deceive  us  by  surreptitious  letters,  and  has  obeyed 
neither  our  prayers  nor  our  repeated  commands  to 
desist.  But  he  has  received  orders  from  the  king 
to  return  immediately  to  France,  to  render  an  ac- 
count of  his  disobedience,  and  he  has  been  compelled 
by  the  governor  to  conform  to  the  will  of  his 
Majesty.  What  I  now  fear  is  that,  on  his  return 
to  France,  by  using  every  kind  of  means,  employ- 
ing new  artifices,  and  falsely  representing  our 
affairs,  he  may  obtain  from  the  court  of  Rome 
powers  wliich  may  disturb  the  peace  of  our  church ; 
for  the  priests  whom  he  brought  with  him  from 
France,  and  who  hve  at  Montreal,  are  animated 
with  the  same  spirit  of  disobedience  and  division ; 
and  I  fear,  with  good  reason,  that  all  belonging  to 
the  seminary  of  St.  Sulpice,  who  may  come  here- 
after to  join  them,  will  be  of  the  same  disposition. 
If  what  is  said  is  true,  that  by  means  of  fraudulent 
letters  the  right  of  patronage  of  the  pretended 
parish  of  Montreal  has  been  granted  to  the  supe- 
rior of  this  seminary,  and  the  right  of  appointment 
to  the  Archbishop  of  Rouen,  then  is  altar  reared 
against  altar   in  our  church  of  Canada;   for  the 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALTFORIflA 

RAVr,;   H.aHhaMA  (;•.!'  E  ;".  LIBRARY 


102  THE  DISPUTED  BISHOPRIC.  11668 

clergy  of  Montreal  will  always  stand  in  opposition 
to  nie,  the  vicar  apostolic,  and  to  my  successors."  * 
These  dismal  forebodings  were  never  realized 
The  Holy  See  annulled  the  obnoxious  bidls ;  the 
Archbishop  of  Rouen  renounced  his  claims,  and 
Queylus  found  his  position  untenable.  Seven  years 
later,  when  Laval  was  on  a  visit  to  France,  a  recon- 
ciliation was  broug-ht  about  between  them.  The 
former  vicar  of  the  Archbishop  of  Rouen  made 
his  submission  to  the  vicar  of  the  Pope,  and  returned 
to  Canada  as  a  missionary.  Laval's  triumph  was 
complete,  to  the  joy  of  the  Jesuits,  silent,  if  not 
idle,  spectators  of  the  tedious  and  complex  quarrel. 

1  Lettre  de  Laval  au  Pape,  22  Oct.,  1G61.     Printed  by  Faillon,  irom  the 
oriipiial  in  the  archives  of  the  Propaganda. 


CHAPTER    V. 

1659,  1660. 

LAVAL  AND   ARGENSON. 

Francois  ue  Laval.  —  His  Position  and  Character.  —  Arrivai 
OF  Argenson.  —  The  Quarrel. 

We  are  touching  delicate  ground.  To  many 
excellent  Catholics  of  our  own  day  Laval  is  an 
object  of  veneration.  The  Catholic  university  of 
Quebec  glories  in  bearing  his  name,  and  certain 
modern  ecclesiastical  writers  rarely  mention  him 
in  terms  less  reverent  than  "  the  virtuous  ])Ye\- 
ate,"  or  "the  holy  prelate."  Nor  are  some  of  his 
contemporaries  less  emphatic  in  eulogy.  Mother 
Juchereau  de  Saint-Denis,  Superior  of  the  Hotel 
Dieu,  wrote  immediately  after  his  death :  "  He  began 
in  his  tenderest  years  the  study  of  perfection,  and  we 
have  reason  to  think  that  he  reached  it,  since  every 
virtue  which  Saint  Paul  demands  in  a  bishop  was 
seen  and  admired  in  him ; "  and  on  his  first  arrival 
in  Canada,  Mother  Marie  de  I'lncarnation,  Superior 
of  the  Ursulines,  wrote  to  her  son  that  the  choice 
of  such  a  prelate  Avas  not  of  man,  but  of  God.  "  1 
will  not,"  she  adds,  "  say  that  he  is  a  saint,  but  1 
may  say  with  truth  that  he  lives  like  a  saint  and 


104  LAVAL  AND  ARGENSON.  [1G59 

an  apostle."  And  she  describes  his  austerity  of 
life;  how  he  had  but  two  servants,  a  gardener  — 
whom  he  lent  on  occasion  to  his  needy  neigh- 
bors—  and  a  valet;  how  he  lived  in  a  small  hired 
house,  saying  that  he  would  not  have  one  of  his 
own  if  he  could  build  it  for  only  five  sous ;  and 
how,  in  his  table,  furniture,  and  bed,  he  showed  the 
spirit  of  poverty,  even,  as  she  thinks,  to  excess. 
His  servant,  a  lay  brother  named  Houssart,  testified, 
after  his  death,  that  he  slept  on  a  hard  bed,  and 
would  not  suffer  it  to  be  changed  even  when  it 
became  full  of  fleas ;  and,  what  is  more  to  the  pur- 
pose, that  he  gave  fifteen  hundred  or  two  thousand 
francs  to  the  poor  every  year.^  Houssart  also  gives 
the  following  specimen  of  his  austerities :  "  I  have 
seen  him  keep  cooked  meat  five,  six,  seven,  or 
eight  days  in  the  heat  of  summer,  and  when  it  was 
all  mouldy  and  wormy  he  washed  it  in  warm  water 
and  ate  it,  and  told  me  that  it  was  very  good." 
The  old  servant  was  so  impressed  by  these  and 
other  proofs  of  his  master's  sanctity,  that  "  I  deter- 
mined," he  says,  "  to  keep  every  thing  I  could 
that  had  belonged  to  his  holy  person,  and  after  his 
death  to  soak  bits  of  linen  in  his  blood  when  his 
body  was  opened,  and  take  a  few  bones  and  carti  • 
lages  from  his  breast,  cut  off  his  hair,  and  keep  hia 
clothes,  and  such  things,  to  serve  as  most  precious 
relics."  These  pious  cares  were  not  in  vain,  for 
the  relics  proved  greatly  in  demand. 

1  Leitre  du  Frere  Houssart,  ancien  serviteur  de  ^Pg'r  de  Laval  a  M. 
Tremhlay,  1  Sept.,  1708.  This  letter  is  printed,  though  with  one  or  two 
Important  omissions,  in  the  Abeille,  Vol.  L     (Quebec,  1848.) 


1659.]  FRANCOIS  DE   LAVAL.  105 

Several  portraits  of  Laval  are  extant.  A  drooping 
nose  of  portentous  size ;  a  well-formed  forehead ; 
a  brow  strongly  arched  ;  a  bright,  clear  eye  ;  scanty 
hair,  half  hidden  by  a  black  skullcap ;  thin  lips, 
compressed  and  rigid,  betraying  a  spirit  not  easy 
to  move  or  convince  ;  features  of  that  indescribable 
cast  which  marks  the  priestly  type  :  such  is  Laval, 
as  lie  looks  grimly  down  on  us  from  the  dingy  can- 
vas of  two  centuries  ago. 

He  is  one  of  those  concerning  whom  Protestants 
and  Catholics,  at  least  ultramontane  Catholics,  will 
never  agree  in  judgment.  The  task  of  eulogizing 
him  may  safely  be  left  to  those  of  his  own  way 
of  thinking.  It  is  for  us  to  regard  him  from^^r 
the  standpoint  of  secular  history.  And,  first,  let 
us  credit  him  with  sincerity.  He  believed  firmly 
that  the  princes  and  rulers  of  this  world  ought 
to  be  subject  to  guidance  and  control  at  the 
hands  of  the  Pope,  the  vicar  of  Christ  on  earth. 
But  he  himself  was  the  Pope's  vicar,  and,  so  far  as 
the  bounds  of  Canada  extended,  the  Holy  Father 
had  clothed  him  with  his  own  authority.  The  glory 
of  God  demanded  that  this  authority  should  suffer 
no  abatement,  and  he,  Laval,  would  be  guilty  before 
Heaven  if  he  did  not  uphold  the  supremacy  of  the 
church  over  the  powers  both  of  earth  and  of  hell. 

Of  the  faults  which  he  owed  to  nature,  the  prin- 
cipal seems  to  have  been  an  arbitrary  and  domi- 
neering temper.  He  was  one  of  those  who  by 
nature  lean  always  to  the  side  of  authority ;  and  in 
the  English  Revolution  he  would  inevitably  have 
stood  for  the  Stuarts ;  or,  in  the  American  Revolu- 


106  LAVAL  AND   ARGENSON.  [1G59 

tion,  for  the  Crown.  But  being  above  nil  things 
a  Catholic  and  a  priest,  he  was  drawn  by  a  consti- 
tutional necessity  to  the  ultramontane  party,  or 
the  party  of  centralization.  He  fought  lustily,  in 
his  wny,  against  the  natural  man ;  and  humility  was 
tlic  virtue  to  the  culture  of  which  he  gave  his 
chief  attention,  but  soil  and  chmate  were  not  fav- 
or;! hie.  His  life  was  one  long  assertion  of  the 
authority  of  the  church,  and  this  authority  was 
lodged  in  himself.  In  his  stubborn  fight  for  eccle- 
siastical ascendancy,  he  was  aided  by  the  impulses 
of  a  nature  that  loved  to  rule,  and  could  not  endure 
to  yield.  His  principles  and  his  instinct  of  domina- 
tion were  acting  in  j^erfect  unison,  and  his  con- 
science was  the  handmaid  of  his  fault.  Austerities 
and  mortifications,  playing  at  beggar,  sleeping  in 
beds  full  of  fleas,  or  performing  prodigies  of  gratu- 
itous dirtiness  in  hospitals,  however  fatal  to  self- 
respect,  could  avail  little  against  influences  working 
so  powerfully  and  so  insidiously  to  stimulate  the 
most  subtle  of  human  vices.  The  history  of  the 
Roman  church  is  full  of  Lavals. 

The  Jesuits,  adepts  in  human  nature,  had  made 
a  sagacious  choice  when  they  put  forward  this  con- 
scientious, zealous,  dogged,  and  pugnacious  priest 
to  fight  their  battles.  Nor  were  they  ill  pleased 
that,  for  the  present,  he  was  not  Bishop  of  Canada, 
but  only  vicar  apostolic ;  for,  such  being  the  case, 
they  could  have  him  recalled  if,  on  trial,  they  did 
not  like  him,  while  an  unacceptable  bishop  would 
be  an  evil  past  remedy. 

Canada  was  entering  a  state  of  transition.    Hith- 


1659.]  APPROACHING  CHANGE.  107 

erto  ecclesiastical  influence  had  been  all  in  all.  The 
Jesuits,  by  far  the  most  educated  and  able  body  of 
men  in  the  colony,  had  controlled  it,  not  alone  in 
things  spiritual,  but  virtually  in  things  teuiporal 
also ;  and  the  governor  may  be  said  to  have  been 
little  else  than  a  chief  of  police,  under  the  direction 
of  the  missionaries.  The  early  governors  were  them- 
selves deeply  imbued  with  the  missionary  spirit. 
Champlain  was  earnest  above  all  things  for  con- 
verting the  Indians;  Moiitmagny  was  half -monk, 
for  he  was  a  Knight  of  Malta;  Aillebout  w^as  so 
insanely  pious,  that  he  lived  with  his  wife  like  monk 
and  nun.    A  chantjre  was  at  hand.    From  a  mission 

o 

and  a  trading  station,  Canada  was  soon  to  become, 
in  the  true  sense,  a  colony ;  and  civil  government 
had  begun  to  assert  itself  on  the  banks  of  the  St. 
Lawrence.  The  epoch  of  the  martyrs  and  apostles 
was  passing  away,  and  the  man  of  the  sword  and 
the  man  of  the  gown  —  the  soldier  and  the  legist  — 
were  threatening  to  supplant  the  paternal  sway  of 
priests ;  or,  as  Laval  might  have  said,  the  hosts  of 
this  world  were  beleaguering  the  sanctuary,  and 
he  was  called  of  Heaven  to  defend  it.  His  true 
antagonist,  though  three  thousand  miles  away,  was 
the  great  minister  Colbert,  as  purely  a  statesman 
as  the  vicar  apostolic  was  purely  a  priest.  Laval, 
no  doubt,  could  see  behind  the  statesman's  back 
another  adversary,  the  devil. 

Argenson  was  governor  when  the  crozier  and  the 
sword  began  to  clash,  which  is  merely  another  way 
of  saying  that  he  was  governor  when  Laval  arrived. 
He  seems  to  have  been  a  man  of  education,  modera- 


108  LAVAL  AND  ARGENSON.  [1359. 

tion,  and  sense,  and  he  was  also  an  earnest  Catholic ; 
but  if  Laval  had  his  duties  to  God,  so  had  Argenson 
his  duties  to  the  king,  of  whose  authority  he  was 
the  representative  and  guardian.  If  the  first  colli- 
sions seem  trivial,  they  were  no  less  the  symptoms 
of  a  grave  antagonism.  Argenson  could  have  pur- 
chased peace  only  by  becoming  an  agent  of  the 
church. 

The  vicar  apostolic,  or,  as  he  was  usually  styled, 
the  bishop,  being,  it  may  be  remembered,  titular 
Bishop  of  Petrsea  in  Arabia,  presently  fell  into  a 
quarrel  with  the  governor  touching  the  relative 
position  of  their  seats  in  church,  —  a  point  which, 
by  the  way,  was  a  subject  of  contention  for  many 
years,  and  under  several  successive  governors.  This 
lime  the  case  was  referred  to  the  ex-governor, 
jVillebout,  and  a  temporary  settlement  took  place.^ 
jV  few  weeks  after,  on  the  fete  of  Saint  Francis 
Xavier,  when  the  Jesuits  were  accustomed  to  ask 
the  dignitaries  of  the  colony  to  dine  in  their  refec- 
tory after  mass,  a  fresh  difficulty  arose,  —  Should 
the  governor  or  the  bishop  have  the  higher  seat  at 
table  ?  The  question  defied  solution ;  so  the  fathers 
invited  neither  of  them.^ 

Again,  on  Christmas,  at  the  midnight  mass,  the 
deacon  offered  incense  to  the  bishop,  and  then,  in 
obedience  to  an  order  from  him,  sent  a  subordinate 
to  offer  it  to  the  governor,  instead  of  offering  it 
himself,  Laval  further  insisted  that  the  priests  of 
the  choir  should  receive  incense  before  the  gover- 

1  Lalemant,  in  Journal  des  Jf&uites,  Sept.,  1669. 

2  Ibid.,  Dec,  1659. 


1659-60.1  DISPUTES   OF  PRECEDENCE  109 

nor  received  it.  Argenson  resisted,  and  a  bitter 
quarrel  ensued.^ 

The  late  governor,  Aillebout,  had  been  church- 
warden ex  officio  ;  ^  and  in  this  pious  community  the 
office  was  esteemed  as  an  addition  to  his  honors. 
Argenson  had  thus  far  held  the  same  position ;  but 
Laval  declared  that  he  should  hold  it  no  longer. 
Argenson,  to  whom  the  bishop  had  not  spoken  on 
the  subject,  came  soon  after  to  a  meeting  of  the 
wardens,  and,  being  challenged,  denied  Laval's  right 
to  dismiss  him.  A  dispute  ensued,  in  which  the 
bishop,  according  to  his  Jesuit  friends,  used  lan- 
guage not  very  respectful  to  the  representative  of 
royalty.^ 

On  occasion  of  the  "  solemn  catechism,"  the 
bishop  insisted  that  the  children  should  salute  liim 
before  saluting  the  governor.  Argenson  hearing 
of  this,  declined  to  come.  A  compromise  was  con- 
trived. It  was  agreed  that  when  the  rival  digni- 
taries entered,  the  children  should  be  busied  in 
some  manual  exercise  which  should  prevent  their 
saluting  either.  Nevertheless,  two  boys,  "  enticed 
and  set  on  by  their  parents,"  saluted  the  governor 
first,  to  the  great  indignation  of  Laval.  They  were 
whipped  on  the  next  day  for  breach  of  orders.* 

Next  there  was  a  sharp  quarrel  about  a  sentenpe 
pronounced  by  Laval  against  a  heretic,  to  which 
the  governor,  good  Catholic  as  he  was,  took  excep- 

1  Lalemanl,  in  Journal  des  Jifsuites,  Dec,  1659;  Lettre  d" Argenson  i 
MM.  de  la  Compagnie  de  St.  Sul]>ice. 

2  Livre  des  Deliberations  de  la  Fabrique  de  Quebec. 
*  Journal  des  Jesuitef,  Nov.,  IGGO 

«  Ibid.,  Feb.,  1661. 


110  LAVAL  AND  ARGENSON.  [1661. 

tion.'*  Palm  Sunday  came,  and  there  could  be  no 
procession  and  no  distribution  of  branches,  because 
the  governor  and  the  bishop  could  not  agree  on 
points  of  precedence.^  On  the  day  of  the  Fete 
Dieu,  however,  there  was  a  grand  procession,  which 
Btopped  from  time  to  time  at  temporary  altars,  oi 
reposoirs,  placed  at  intervals  along  its  course.  One 
of  these  was  in  the  fort,  where  the  soldiers  were 
drawn  up,  waiting  the  arrival  of  the  procession. 
Lava]  demanded  that  they  should  take  off  their 
hats.  Argenson  assented,  and  the  soldiers  stood 
micovered.  Laval  now  insisted  that  they  should 
kneel.  The  governor  replied  that  it  was  their  duty 
as  soldiers  to  stand ;  whereupon  the  bishop  refused 
to  stop  at  the  altar,  and  ordered  the  procession  to 
move  on.^ 

The  above  incidents  are  set  down  in  the  private 
journal  of  the  superior  of  the  Jesuits,  which  was 
not  meant  for  the  public  eye.  The  bishop,  it  will 
be  seen,  was,  by  the  showing  of  his  friends,  in  most 
cases  the  aggressor.  The  disputes  in  question, 
though  of  a  nature  to  provoke  a  smile  on  irrev- 
erent lips,  were  by  no  means  so  puerile  as  they 
appear.  It  is  difficult  in  a  modern  democratic 
socisty  to  conceive  the  substantial  importance  of 
the  signs  and  s^onbols  of  dignity  and  authority, 
at  a  time  and  among  a  people  where  they  were 
adjusted  with  the  most  scrupulous  precision,  and 
accepted  by  all  classes  as  exponents  of  relative 
degrees  in  the  social  and  political  scale.     Whetl  -ir 

^  Journal  des  J€snites,  Feb.,  1661. 

»  Ibid.,  Avril,  IGGl.  3  m^^^  j^i^^  ic61. 


16fl.l  APPEAL  OF  ARGENSON.  Ill 

the  bisliop  or  tlie  governor  should  sit  in  the  higher 
seat  at  table  thus  became  a  political  question,  for 
it  defined  to  the  popular  understanding  the  posi- 
tion of  church  and  state  in  their  relations  to 
g<"»ve]'nnient 

Hence  it  is  not  surj^rising  to  find  a  memorial, 
drawn  up  apparently  by  Argenson,  and  addressed 
to  the  council  of  state,  asking  for  instructions  when 
and  how  a  governor  —  lieutenant-general  for  the 
king  —  ought  to  receive  incense,  holy  water,  and 
consecrated  bread ;  whether  the  said  bread  should 
be  offered  him  with  sound  of  drum  and  fife ;  what 
should  be  the  position  of  his  seat  at  church ;  and 
what  place  he  should  hold  in  various  religious  cere- 
monies ;  whether  in  feasts,  assemblies,  ceremonies, 
and  councils  of  a  imvelij  civil  character,  he  or  the 
bisliop  was  to  hold  the  first  place ;  and,  finally,  if 
the  bishop  could  excommunicate  the  inhabitants  or 
others  for  acts  of  a  civil  and  political  character, 
when  the  said  acts  were  pronounced  lawful  by  the 
governor. 

The  reply  to  the  memorial  denies  to  the  bishop 
the  poAver  of  excommunication  in  civil  matters, 
assigns  to  him  the  second  place  in  meetings  and 
ceremonies  of  a  civil  character,  and  is  very  reticent 
as  to  the  rest.^ 

Argenson  had  a  brother,  a  counsellor  of  state, 
and  a  fast  friend  of  the  Jesuits.  Laval  was  in 
correspondence  with  him,  and,  apparently  sure  of 
sympathy,  wrote  to  him  touching  his  relations  with 
the  governor.     "  Your  brother,"  he  begins,  "  re- 

1  Adds  ct  Resolutions  demand^s  sur  la  Nouvdle  France. 


112  LAVAL  AND  ARGENSON  [1659-60 

ceived  me  on  my  arrival  with  extraordinary  kind- 
ness ; "  but  he  proceeds  to  say  that,  perceiving  with 
sorrow  that  he  entertained  a  groundless  distrust  of 
those  good  servants  of  God,  the  Jesuit  fathers,  he, 
the  bishop,  thought  it  his  duty  to  give  him  in  pri- 
vate a  candid  warning  which  ought  to  have  done 
good,  but  which,  to  his  surprise,  the  governor  had 
taken  amiss,  and  had  conceived,  in  consequence,  a 
prejudice  against  his  monitor.^ 

Argenson,  on  his  part,  writes  to  the  same  brother, 
at  about  the  same  time.  "  The  Bishop  of  Petra3a  is 
so  stiff  in  opinion,  and  so  often  transported  by  his 
zeal  beyond  the  rights  of  liis  position,  that  he  makes 
no  difficulty  in  encroaching  on  the  functions  of 
others ;  and  this  with  so  much  heat  that  he  will 
listen  to  nobody.  A  few  days  ago  he  carried  oif 
a  servant  girl  of  one  of  the  inhabitants  here,  and 
placed  her  by  liis  own  authority  in  the  Ursuline 
convent,  on  the  sole  jDretext  that  he  wanted  to  have 
her  instructed,  thus  depriving  her  master  of  her 
services,  though  he  had  been  at  great  expense  in 
brino;ino;  her  from  France.  This  inhabitant  is  M. 
Denis,  who,  not  knoAving  who  had  carried  her  off, 
came  to  me  with  a  petition  to  get  her  out  of  the 
convent.  I  kept  the  petition  three  days  without 
answering  it,  to  prevent  the  affair  from  being  noised 
abroad.  The  Reverend  Father  Lalemant,  with 
whom  I  communicated  on  the  subject,  and  who 
greatly  blamed  the  Bishop  of  Petraea,  did  all  in 
his  power  to  have  the  girl  given  up  quietly,  but 

'  Ijcttre  de  Laval  a  M.  d' Argenson,  frere  du  Gouverneiir,  20  Oct., 
1659. 


1659-60. J  CLERICAL   VIGOR.  113 

without  the  least  success,  so  that  I  was  forced  to 
answer  the  petition,  and  permit  M.  Denis  to  take 
his  servant  wherever  he  should  find  her ;  and,  if  I 
had  not  used  means  to  bring  about  an  accommoda- 
tion, and  if  M.  Denis,  on  the  refusal  which  was 
made  him  to  give  her  up,  had  brought  the  matter 
into  court,  I  should  have  been  compelled  to  take 
measures  which  woidd  have  caused  great  scandal ; 
and  all  from  the  self-will  of  the  Bishop  of  Petraea, 
who  says  that  a  bishop  can  do  what  he  likes,  and 
threatens  nothing  but  excommunication."  ^ 

In  another  letter  he  speaks  in  the  same  strain  of 
this  redundancy  of  zeal  on  the  part  of  the  bishop^ 
which  often,  he  says,  takes  the  shape  of  obstinacy 
and  encroachment  on  the  rights  of  others.  "  It 
is  greatly  to  be  wished,"  he  observes,  "  that  the 
Bishop  of  PetriBa  would  give  his  confidence  to 
the  Reverend  Father  Lalemant  instead  of  Father 
Ragueneau ;  "  ^  and  he  praises  Lalemant  as  a  per- 
son of  excellent  sense.  "  It  woidd  be  well,"  he  adds, 
"  if  the  rest  of  their  community  were  of  the  same 
mind ;  for  in  that  case  they  would  not  mix  them- 
selves up  with  various  matters  in  the  way  they  do, 
and  woidd  leave  the  government  to  those  to  whom 
God  has  given  it  in  charge."^ 

One  of  Laval's  modern  admirers,  the  worthy 
Abbe  Ferland,  after  confessing  that  his  zeal  may 
now  and  then  have  savored  of  excess,  adds  in  his 
defence,  that  a  vigorous  hand  was  needed  to  com- 

'  "  —  Qui  diet  tinun  Evesijue  peult  ce  qu'il  veult  et  ne  menace  que  dex- 
communication."     Lf.ttre  d'Aiyenson  a  son  Frere,  1G59. 
-  Lcltre  d'An/e7ison  u  son  Frere,  21  Oct.,  1G5U. 
3  Ibid.,  7  Juiij,  16G0. 

8 


114  LAVAL  AND   ARGENSON.  [165L  60. 

pel  the  infant  colony  to  enter  "  the  good  path  ; " 
meaning,  of  course,  the  straitest  path  of  Roman 
Catholic  orthodoxy.  We  may  hereafter  see  more 
of  this  stringent  system  of  colonial  education,  its 
success,  and  the  results  that  followed. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

1658-1663. 

LAVAL  AND  AVAUGOUR. 

Reception  op  Argenson.  —  His  DiFFicnLTiES.  —  His  Recall.  — 
Dubois  d'Avaugour.  —  The  Brandt  Quarrel.  —  Distress  of 
Laval. — Portents.  —  The  Earthquake. 

When"  Argenson  arrived  to  assume  the  govern- 
ment, a  curious  greeting  had  awaited  him.  The 
Jesuits  asked  him  to  dine ;  vespers  followed  the 
repast ;  and  then  they  conducted  him  into  a  hall, 
where  the  boys  of  their  school  —  disguised,  one  as 
the  Genius  of  New  France,  one  as  the  Genius  of 
the  Forest,  and  others  as  Indians  of  various  friendly 
tribes  —  made  him  speeches  by  turn,  in  prose  and 
verse.  First,  Pierre  du  Quet,  who  played  the 
Genius  of  New  France,  presented  his  Indian  retinue 
to  the  governor,  in  a  complimentary  harangue. 
Then  four  other  boys,  personating  French  colonists, 
made  him  four  flattering  addresses,  in  French  verse. 
Charles  Denis,  dressed  as  a  Huron,  followed,  bewail- 
ing the  ruin  of  liis  people,  and  appealing  to  Argen- 
son for  aid.  Jean  FrauQois  Bourdon,  in  the  character 
of  an  Algonquin,  next  advanced  on  the  platform, 
boasted   his   courage,  and   declared    that  he  was 


116  LAVAL  AND   AVAUGOUR.  [IGSa 

ashamed  to  cry  like  the  Huron.  The  Genius  of 
the  Forest  now  appeared,  with  a  retinue  of  wild 
Indians  from  the  interior,  w^ho,  being  unable  to 
speak  French,  addressed  the  governor  in  their 
native  tongues,  which  the  Genius  proceeded  to 
interpret.  Two  other  boys,  in  the  character  of 
prisoners  just  escaped  from  the  Iroquois,  then  came 
forward,  imploring  aid  in  piteous  accents ;  and,  in 
conclusion,  the  whole  troop  of  Indians,  from  far 
and  near,  laid  their  bows  and  arrows  at  the  feet  of 
Argenson,  and  hailed  him  as  their  chief.^ 

Besides  these  mock  Indians,  a  crowd  of  genuine 
savages  had  gathered  at  Quebec  to  greet  the  new 
"  Ononthio."  On  the  next  day — at  his  own  cost, 
as  he  writes  to  a  friend  —  he  gave  them  a  feast, 
consisting  of  "  seven  large  kettles  fuU  of  Indian 
corn,  peas,  prunes,  sturgeons,  eels,  and  fat,  which 
they  devoured,  having  first  sung  me  a  song,  after 
their  fashion."  ^ 

These  festivities  over,  he  entered  on  the  serious 
business  of  his  government,  and  soon  learned  that 
his  path  was  a  thorny  one.  He  could  find,  he  says, 
but  a  hundred  men  to  resist  the  twenty-four  hun- 
dred warriors  of  the  Iroquois ;  ^  and  he  begs  the 
proprietary  company  which  he  represented  to  send 
him  a  hundred  more,  who  could  serve  as  soldiers 
or  laborers,  according  to  the  occasion. 

^  La  Reception  de  Monseigneur  le  Vicomte  d' Argenson  par  toutes  les  nations 
du  pais  de  Canada  a  son  entree  au  gouvei-nement  de  la  Nouvelle  France;  d 
Qnebecq  au  College  de  la  Compagnie  de  J^sus,  le  28  de  Juillet  de  l'unn€e  1658. 
The  speeches,  in  French  and  Indian,  are  here  given  verbatim,  with  the 
names  of  all  the  hoys  who  took  part  in  the  ceremony. 

2  Papiers  d' Argenson,     Kehec,  5  Sept.,  1658. 

•  M^oire  sur  le  subject  (sic)  de  la  Guerre  des  Iroquois,  1659. 


1658-59.1       TROUBLES  OF  ARGENSON.  117 

The  company  turned  a  deaf  ear  to  his  appeals. 
Thc}^  had  lost  money  in  Canada,  and  were  griev- 
ously out  of  humor  with  it.  In  their  view,  the 
first  duty  of  a  governor  was  to  collect  their  debts, 
which,  for  more  reasons  than  one,  was  no  easy 
task.  While  they  did  nothing  to  aid  the  colony 
in  its  distress,  they  beset  Argenson  with  demands 
for  the  thousand  pounds  of  beaver-skins,  which  the 
inhabitants  had  agreed  to  send  them  every  year,  in 
return  for  the  privilege  of  the  fur  trade,  a  privi- 
lege which  the  Iroquois  war  made  for  the  present 
worthless.  The  perj)lexed  governor  vents  his  feel- 
ings in  sarcasm.  "  They  [the  company)  take  no 
pains  to  learn  the  truth ;  and,  when  they  hear  of 
settlers  carried  off  and  burned  by  the  Iroquois, 
they  will  think  it  a  punishment  for  not  settling 
old  debts,  and  paying  over  the  beaver-skins."  ^  "  I 
wdsh,"  he  adds,  "  they  would  send  somebody  to 
look  after  their  affairs  here.  I  would  gladly  give 
him  the  same  lodging  and  entertainment  as  my 
own." 

Another  matter  gave  him  great  annoyance.  This 
was  the  virtual  independence  of  Montreal ;  and 
here,  if  nowhere  else,  he  and  the  bishop  were  of 
the  same  mind.  On  one  occasion  he  made  a  visit 
to  the  place  in  question,  where  he  expected  to  be 
received  as  governor-general ;  but  the  local  gov- 
ernor, Maisonneuve,  declined,  or  at  least  postponed, 
to  take  his  orders  and  give  him  the  keys  of  the 
fort.  Argenson  accordingly  speaks  of  Montreal  as 
"  a  place  which  makes  so  much  noise,  but  which  is 

•  Papier s  d' Argenson,  21  Oct.,  1659. 


118  LAVAL  AND  AVAUGOUR.  [1658-59 

of  such  small  account." '  He  adds  that,  besides 
wanting  to  be  independent,  the  Montrealists  want 
to  monopolize  the  fur  trade,  which  would  cause 
civil  war ;  and  that  the  king  ought  to  interpose  to 
correct  their  obstinacy. 

In  another  letter  he  complains  of  Aillebout,  who 
had  preceded  him  in  the  government,  though  him- 
self a  Montreahst.  Argenson  says  that,  on  going 
out  to  fight  the  Iroquois,  he  left  Aillebout  at  Que- 
bec, to  act  as  his  heutenant ;  that,  instead  of  doing 
so,  he  had  assumed  to  govern  in  his  own  right ; 
that  he  had  taken  possession  of  his  absent  supe- 
rior's furniture,  drawn  his  pay,  and  in  other 
respects  behaved  as  if  he  never  expected  to  see 
him  again.  "  When  I  returned,"  continues  the 
governor,  "  I  made  him  director  in  the  council, 
without  pay,  as  there  was  none  to  give  him.  It 
was  this,  I  think,  that  made  him  remove  to  Mon- 
treal, for  which  I  do  not  care,  provided  the  glory 
of  our  Master  suffer  no  prejudice  thereby."^ 

These  extracts  may,  perhaps,  give  an  unjust 
impression  of  Argenson,  who,  from  the  general 
tenor  of  his  letters,  appears  to  have  been  a  tem- 
perate and  reasonable  person.  His  patience  and  his 
nervous  system  seem,  however,  to  have  been  taxed 
to  the  utmost.  His  pay  could  not  support  him. 
"  The  costs  of  living  here  are  horrible,"  he  writes. 
"  I  have  only  two  thousand  crowns  a  year  for  aU 
my  expenses,  and  I  have  already  been  forced  to 

•  Papiers  d' Argenson,  4  Aout,  1659. 

*  Ibid.  Double  de  la  lettre  escripte  par  le  Vaisseau  du  Cratgnettr,  parti  It 
*i  Septembre  (1658). 


1658-59.]        TROUBLES  OF  ARGENSON.  119 

run  into  debt  to  the  company  to  an  equal  amount." ' 
Part  of  his  scanty  income  was  derived  from  a 
fishery  of  eels,  on  which  sundry  persons  had  en- 
croached, to  his  great  detriment.^  "  I  see  no  rea- 
son," he  adds,  "  for  staying  here  any  longer.  When 
I  came  to  this  country,  I  hoped  to  enjoy  a  little 
repose,  but  I  am  doubly  deprived  of  it;  on  one 
hand  by  enemies  without,  and  incessant  petty  dis- 
putes within ;  and,  on  the  other,  by  the  difficulty 
I  find  in  subsisting.  The  profits  of  the  fur  trade 
have  been  so  reduced  that  all  the  inhabitants  are 
in  the  greatest  poverty.  They  are  all  insolvent, 
and  cannot  pay  the  merchants  their  advances." 

His  disgust  at  length  reached  a  crisis,  "  I  am 
resolved  to  stay  here  no  longer,  but  to  go  home 
next  year.  My  horror  of  dissension,  and  the  mani- 
fest certainty  of  becoming  involved  in  disputes 
with  certain  persons  with  whom  I  am  unwilling  to 
quarrel,  oblige  me  to  anticipate  these  troubles,  and 
seek  some  way  of  living  in  peace.  These  excessive 
fatigues  are  far  too  much  for  my  strength.  I  am 
writing  to  Monsieur  the  President,  and  to  the  gen- 
tlemen of  the  Company  of  New  France,  to  choose 
some  other  man  for  this  government."  ^  And  again, 
"  if  you  take  any  interest  in  this  country,  see  that 
the  person  chosen  to  command  here  has,  besides  the 
true  piety  necessary  to  a  Christian  in  every  condi- 
tion of  life,  great  firmness  of  character  and  strong 
bodily  health.     I  assure  you  that  without  these 

•  Rid.     Lettre  a  M   de  Morangi,  6  Sept.,  1658. 

2  Ddiberations  de  la  Compagnie  di.  la  Nouvelle  France. 

'  Papiers  d'Anjetison.     Lettre  a  son  Frere,  1659. 


120  LAVAL  AND   AVAUGOUB.  [1661 

qualities  he  cannot  succeccL  Besides,  it  is  ubso* 
lutely  necessary  that  he  should  be  a  man  of  prop- 
erty and  of  some  rank,  so  that  he  will  not  Ije 
despised  for  humble  birth,  or  suspected  of  coming 
here  to  make  his  fortune ;  for  in  that  case  he  can 
do  no  good  whatever."  ^ 

His  constant  friction  with  the  head  of  the  church 
distressed  the  pious  governor,  and  made  his  recall 
doubly  a  relief.  According  to  a  contemporary 
writer,  Laval  was  the  means  of  delivering  him  from 
the  burden  of  government,  having  written  to  the 
President  LamoisTnon  to  uro-e  his  removal.^  Be 
this  as  it  may,  it  is  certain  that  the  bishop  w^as  not 
i^orry  to  be  rid  of  him. 

The  Baron  Dubois  d'Avausrour  arrived  to  take 

D 

his  place.  He  was  an  old  soldier  of  forty  years 
service,^  blunt,  imperative,  and  sometimes  obsti- 
nate to  perverseness ;  but  full  of  energy,  and  of 
a  probity  which  even  liis  enemies  confessed.  "  He 
served  a  long  time  in  Germany  while  you  w^ere 
there,"  writes  the  minister  Colbert  to  the  Marquis 
de  Tracy,  "  and  you  must  have  known  his  talents, 
as  well  as  his  bizarre  and  somewhat  impracticable 
temper."  On  landing,  he  would  have  no  recep- 
tion, being,  as  Father  Lalemant  observes,  "  an 
enemy  of  all  ceremony."  He  Avent,  however, 
to  see  the  Jesuits,  and  "  took  a  morsel  of  food  in 
our  refectory."*     Laval  was  prepared  to  receive 

*  Ibid.  Lettre  (a  son  Frere?),  4  Nov.,  1660.  Tlie  originals  of  Argen- 
Bon's  letters  were  destroyed  in  the  burning  of  the  library  of  the  Louvre 
by  the  Commune. 

2  Laclienaye,  M^moire  stir  Je  Canada. 
'  Avaugour,  Me'moire,  4  Aout,  1663. 

*  Lalemant,  Journal  des  Jesuites,  Sept.,  1661. 


1661-62.]  THE   BRANDY   QUARREL.  121 

him  with  all  solemnity  at  the  church ;  but  the 
governor  would  not  go.  He  soon  set  out  on  a  tour 
of  observation  as  far  as  Montreal,  whence  he  re- 
turned delighted  with  the  country,  and  immediately 
wrote  to  Colbert  in  high  praise  of  it,  observing 
that  the  St.  Lawrence  was  the  most  beautiful  river 
he  had  ever  seen.^ 

It  was  clear  from  the  first  that,  wliUe  he  had  a 
prepossession  against  the  bishop,  he  wished  to  be 
on  good  terms  with  the  Jesuits.  He  began  by 
placing  some  of  them  on  the  council ;  but  they  and 
Laval  were  too  closely  united  ;  and  if  Avaugour 
thought  to  separate  them,  he  signally  failed.  A  few 
months  only  had  elapsed  when  we  find  it  noted  in 
Father  Lalemant's  private  journal  that  the  governor 
had  dissolved  the  council  and  appointed  a  new  one, 
and  that  other  "  changes  and  troubles  "  had  befallen 
The  inevitable  quarrel  had  broken  out;  it  Avas  a 
complex  one,  but  the  chief  occasion  of  dispute  was 
fortunate  for  the  ecclesiastics,  since  it  placed  them, 
to  a  certain  degree,  morally  in  the  right. 

The  question  at  issue  was  not  new.  It  had 
agitated  the  colony  for  years,  and  had  been  the 
spring  of  some  of  Argenson's  many  troubles.  Nor 
did  it  cease  with  Avaugour,  for  we  shall  trace  its 
course  hereafter,  tumultuous  as  a  tornado.  It  was  ^ 
shnply  the  temperance  question;  not  as  regards' 
the  colonists,  though  here,  too,  there  was  great 
room  for  reform,  but  as  regards  the  Indians. 

Their  inordinate  passion  for  brandy  had  long 
been  the  source  of  excessive  disorders.    They  drank 

1  Lettre  d'Avaiiqonr  an  Mim'stre,  1661. 


122  LAVAL  AND   AVAUGOIJU.  flCGl-C'i 

expressly  to  get  drunk,  and  when  drunk  they  were 
like  wild  beasts.  Crune  and  violence  of  all  sorts 
ensued ;  the  priests  saw  their  teachings  despised 
and  their  flocks  ruined.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
sale  of  brandy  was  a  chief  source  of  profit,  direct 
or  indirect,  to  all  those  interested  in  the  fur  trade, 
including  the  principal  persons  of  the  colony.  In 
Argenson's  time,  Laval  launched  an  excommunica- 
tion against  those  engaged  in  the  abhorred  traffic ; 
for  nothing  less  than  total  prohibition  would  con- 
tent the  clerical  party,  and  besides  the  spiritual 
penalty,  they  demanded  the  punishment  of  death 
against  the  contumacious  offender.  Death,  in 
fact,  was  decreed.  Such  was  the  posture  of  affairs 
when  Avaugour  arrived ;  and,  willing  as  he  was  to 
conciliate  the  Jesuits,  he  permitted  the  decree  to 
take  effect,  although,  it  seems,  with  great  repug- 
nance. A  few  weeks  after  his  arrival,  two  men 
were  shot  and  one  whipped,  for  selling  brandy 
to  Indians.^  An  extreme  though  jDartially  sup- 
pressed excitement  shook  the  entire  settlement, 
for  most  of  the  colonists  were,  in  one  degree  or 
another,  implicated  in  the  offence  thus  punished. 
An  explosion  soon  followed ;  and  the  occasion  of 
it  was  the  humanity  or  good-nature  of  the  Jesuit 
Lalemant. 

A  woman  had  been  condemned  to  imprisonment 
for  the  same  cause,  and  Lalemant,  moved  by  com- 
passion, came  to  the  governor  to  intercede  for  her. 
Avaugour  could  no  longer  contain  himself,  and 
answered  the  reverend  petitioner  with  character- 

1  Journal  des  J^suites,  Oct.,  1661. 


i661-62.j  THE   BRANDY   QUARREL.  123 

istic  bluntness.  "You  and  your  brethren  were 
the  first  to  cry  out  against  the  trade,  and  now  you 
want  to  save  the  traders  from  punishment.  I  will 
no  longer  be  the  sport  of  your  contradictions. 
Since  it  is  not  a  crime  for  this  woman,  it  shall  not 
l)e  a  crime  for  anybody."  ^  And  in  this  posture 
he  stood  fast,  with  an  inflexible  stubbornness. 

Henceforth  there  was  full  license  to  liquor  deal- 
ers. A  violent  reaction  ensued  against  the  past 
restriction,  and  brandy  flowed  freely  among  French 
and  Indians  alike.  The  ungodly  drank  to  spite 
the  priests  and  revenge  themselves  for  the  "  con- 
straint of  consciences,"  of  which  they  loudly  com- 
plained. The  utmost  confusion  foUow^ed,  and  the 
principles  on  which  the  pious  colony  was  built 
seemed  upheaved  from  the  foundation.  Laval  was 
distracted  with  grief  and  anger.  He  outpoured 
himself  from  the  pulpit  in  threats  of  divine  wrath, 
and  launched  fresh  excommunications  against  the 
offenders  ;  but  such  w\as  the  popular  fury,  that  ho 
was  forced  to  yield  and  revoke  them.^ 

Disorder  grew  from  bad  to  worse.  "  Men  gave 
no  heed  to  bishop,  preacher,  or  confessor,"  writes 
Father  Charlevoix.  "  The  French  have  despised 
the  remonstrances  of  our  prelate,  because  they  are 
supported  by  the  civil  power, '  says  the  superior  of 
the  Ursulines.  "  He  is  almost  dead  With  grief, 
and  pines  away  before  our  eyes." 

Laval  could  bear  it  no  longer,  but  sailed  for 

*  La  Tour,  Vie  de  Laval,  Liv.  V. 

2  Journal  des  J^suites,  Feb.,  1662.  The  sentence  of  excommunication 
is  printed  in  the  Appendix  to  the  Esquisse  de  la  Vie  de  Laval.  It  bears 
date  February  24.    It  was  on  this  very  day  that  he  was  forced  to  revoke  it 


124  LAVAL  AND  AVAUGOUR.  [16C>2-63 

France,  to  la}^  his  complaints  before  the  court,  and 
urge  the  removal  of  Avaiigour.  He  had,  besides, 
two  other  important  objects,  as  will  appear  here- 
after. His  absence  brought  no  improvement. 
Summer  and  autumn  passed,  and  the  commotion 
did  not  abate.  Winter  w^as  drawing  to  a  close, 
when,  at  length,  outraged  Heaven  interposed  au* 
awful  w^arning  to  the  guilty  colony. 

Scarcely  had  the  bishop  left  his  flock  when  the 
skies  grew  portentous  with  signs  of  the  chastisement 
to  come.  "  We  beheld,"  gravely  writes  Father 
Lalemant,  "  blazing  serpents  which  flew  through 
the  air,  borne  on  wings  of  fire.  We  beheld  above 
Quebec  a  great  globe  of  flame,  Avliich  lighted  up 
the  night,  and  threw  out  sparks  on  all  sides.  This 
same  meteor  appeared  above  Montreal,  where  it 
seemed  to  issue  from  the  bosom  of  the  moon,  with 
a  noise  as  loud  as  cannon  or  thunder,  and  after 
sailing  three  leagues  through  the  air  it  disappeared 
behind  the  mountain  wdiereof  this  island  bears  the 
name." ' 

Still  greater  marvels  followed.  First,  a  Christian 
Algonquin  squaw^,  described  as  "  innocent,  simple, 
and  sincere,"  being  seated  erect  in  bed,  wide  awake, 
b}'  the  side  of  her  husband,  in  the  night  between 
the  fourth  and  fifth  of  February,  distinctly  heard  a 
voice  saying,  "Strange  things  will  hajopen  to-day; 
the  earth  w^ill  quake  !  "  In  great  alarm  she  whis- 
pered the  prodigy  to  her  husband,  who  told  her 
that  she  lied.  This  silenced  her  for  a  time ;  but 
when,  the  next  morning,  she  went  into  the  forest 

1  Lalemant,  Relation,  1663,  2. 


1663.]  PORTENTS.  125 

with  her  hatchet  to  cut  a  faggot  of  wood,  the  same 
dread  voice  resounded  through  the  soHtude,  and 
sent  her  back  in  terror  to  her  hut.^ 

These  things  were  as  nothing  compared  with 
the  marvel  that  befell  a  nun  of  the  hospital,  Mother 
Catherine  de  Saint- Augustin,  who  died  five  years 
later,  in  the  odor  of  sanctity.  On  the  night  of  the 
fourth  of  February,  1663,  she  beheld  in  the  spirit 
four  furious  demons  at  the  four  corners  of  Quebec, 
shaking  it  with  a  violence  which  plainly  showed 
their  purpose  of  reducing  it  to  ruins ;  "  and  this 
they  w^ould  have  done,"  says  the  story,  "  if  a  per- 
sonage of  admirable  beauty  and  ravishing  majesty 
\_Christ],  whom  she  saw  in  the  midst  of  them,  and 
who,  from  time  to  time,  gave  rein  to  their  fury,  had 
not  restrained  them  when  they  were  on  the  point 
of  accomplisliing  their  wicked  design."  She  also 
heard  the  conversation  of  these  demons,  to  the 
effect  that  people  were  now  well  frightened,  and 
many  would  be  converted ;  but  this  would  not  last 
long,  and  they,  the  demons,  would  have  them  in 
time.  •'  Let  us  keep  on  shaking,"  they  cried,  en- 
couraging each  other,  "  and  do  our  best  to  upset 
every  tiling."^ 

Now,  to  pass  from  visions  to  facts :  "  At  half-past 
five  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  the  fifth,"  writes 
Father  Lalemant,  "  a  great  roaring  sound  was 
heard  at  the  same  time  through  the  whole  extent 

'  Lalemant,  Relation,  1663,  6. 

2  Ragueneau,  Via  de  Catherine  de  St.  Augustin,  Liv.  IV.  cliap.  i.  Tlie 
same  story  is  told  by  Juchereau,  Lalemant,  anil  Marie  de  I'lncarnation, 
to  whom  Charlevoix  erroneously  ascribes  the  vi'ion,  as  does  also  tha 
Abbe  La  Tour. 


126  LAVAL  AND  AVAUGOUIl.  [1668. 

of  Canada.  This  sound,  which  produced  an  effect 
as  if  the  houses  were  on  fire,  brought  everybody 
out  of  doors ;  but  instead  of  seeing  smoke  and  flame, 
they  were  amazed  to  behold  the  walls  shaking,  and 
all  the  stones  moving  as  if  they  would  drop  from 
their  places.  The  houses  seemed  to  bend  first  to 
one  side  and  then  to  the  other.  Bells  sounded  of 
themselves  ;  beams,  joists,  and  planks  cracked ; 
the  ground  heaved,  making  the  pickets  of  the 
palisades  dance  in  a  way  that  would  have  seemed 
incredible  had  we  not  seen  it  in  divers  places. 

"  Everybody  was  in  the  streets ;  animals  ran 
wildly  about ;  cliildren  cried ;  men  and  women, 
seized  with  fright,  knew  not  where  to  take  refuge, 
expecting  every  moment  to  be  buried  under  the 
ruins  of  the  houses,  or  swallowed  up  in  some  abyss 
opening  under  their  feet.  Some,  on  their  knees  in 
the  snow,  cried  for  mercy,  and  others  passed  the 
night  in  prayer ;  for  the  earthquake  continued 
without  ceasing,  with  a  motion  much  like  that  of 
a  ship  at  sea,  insomuch  that  sundry  persons  felt  the 
same  qualms  of  stomach  which  they  would  feel  on 
the  water.  In  the  forests  the  commotion  was  far 
greater.  The  trees  struck  one  against  the  other  as 
if  there  were  a  battle  between  them ;  and  you  would 
have  said  that  not  <jnly  their  branches,  but  even 
their  trunks  started  out  of  their  places  and  leaped 
on  each  other  with  such  noise  and  confusion  that 
the  Indians  said  that  the  whole  forest  was  drunk." 
Mary  of  the  Incarnation  gives  a  similar  account, 
as  does  also  Frances  Juchereau  de  Saint-Ignace ; 
and  these  contemporary  records  are  sustained  to 


1663.]  THE   EARTHQUAKE.  127 

some  extent  by  the  evidence  of  geology.^  A  re- 
markable effect  was  produced  on  the  St.  Lawrence, 
which  was  so  charged  with  mud  and  clay  that  for 
many  weeks  the  water  was  unfit  to  drink.  Con- 
siderable hills  and  large  tracts  of  forest  slid  from 
their  places,  some  into  the  river,  and  some  into 
adjacent  valleys.  A  number  of  men  in  a  boat  near 
Tadoussac  stared  aghast  at  a  large  hill  covered 
with  trees,  which  sank  into  the  water  before  their 
eyes ;  streams  were  turned  from  their  courses ; 
water-falls  were  levelled ;  springs  were  dried  up  in 
some  places,  while  in  others  new  springs  appeared. 
Nevertheless,  the  accounts  that  have  come  down  to 
us  seem  a  little  exaggerated,  and  sometimes  ludi- 
crously so ;  as  when,  for  example.  Mother  Mary  of 
the  Incarnation  tells  us  of  a  man  who  ran  all  night 
to  escape  from  a  fissure  in  the  earth  which  opened 
behind  him  and  chased  him  as  he  fled. 

It  is  perhaps  needless  to  say  that  "  spectres  and 
phantoms  of  fire,  bearing  torches  in  their  hands," 
took  part  in  the  convulsion.  "  The  fiery  figure  of 
a  man  vomiting  flames  "  also  appeared  in  the  air, 
with  many  other  apparitions  too  numerous  to  men- 
tion. It  is  recorded  that  three  young  men  were  on 
their  way  through  the  forest  to  sell  brandy  to  the 
Indians,  when  one  of  them,  a  little  in  advance  of 
the  rest,  was  met  by  a  hideous  spectre  which  nearly 

*  Professor  Sterry  Hunt,  whose  intimate  knowledge  of  Canadian 
geology  is  well  known,  tells  me  that  the  shores  of  the  St.  Lawrence  are  to  a 
great  e.xtent  formeil  of  beds  of  gravel  and  clay  resting  on  inclined  strata 
of  rock,  80  that  earth-slides  would  be  the  necessary  result  of  any  convul- 
sion like  that  of  1663.  He  adds  that  the  evidence  that  such  slides  have 
taken  place  on  a  great  scale  is  very  distinct  at  various  points  along  tha 
river,  esiiecially  at  Les  Eboulemeus,  on  the  north  shore. 


128  LAVAL  AND  AVAUGOUR.  [1663. 

killed  liim  with  fright.  He  had  scarcely  strength 
enough  to  rejoin  his  companions,  who,  seeing  his 
terror,  began  to  laugh  at  hhn.  One  of  them,  how- 
ever, presently  came  to  his  senses,  and  said :  "  This 
is  no  laughing  matter ;  Ave  are  going  to  sell  liquor  to 
the  Indians  against  the  prohibitions  of  the  church, 
and  perhaps  God  means  to  punish  our  disobedi- 
ence." On  this  they  all  turned  back.  That  night 
they  had  scarcely  lain  down  to  sleep  when  the 
earthquake  roused  them,  and  they  ran  out  of  their 
hut  just  in  time  to  escape  being  swallowed  up  along 
with  it.^ 

With  every  allowance,  it  is  clear  that  the  con- 
vulsion must  have  been  a  severe  one,  and  it  is 
remarkable  that  in  all  Canada  not  a  life  was  lost. 
The  writers  of  the  day  see  in  this  a  proof  that  God 
meant  to  reclaim  the  guilty  and  not  destroy  them. 
At  Quebec  there  was  for  the  time  an  intense  re- 
vival of  religion.  The  end  of  the  world  was  thought 
to  be  at  hand,  and  everybody  made  ready  for  the 
last  judgment.  Repentant  throngs  beset  confes- 
sionals and  altars ;  enemies  were  reconciled ;  fasts, 
prayers,  and  penances  filled  the  whole  season  of 
Lent.  Yet,  as  we  shall  see,  the  devil  could  still 
find  wherewith  to  console  himself. 

It  was  midsummer  before  the  shocks  wholly 
ceased  and  the  earth  resumed  her  wonted  calm. 
An  extreme  drought  w^as  followed  by  floods  of 
rain,  and   then  Nature  began  her  sure  work  of 

'  Marie  de  I'Incarnation,  Letlre  du  20  Aout,  1663.  It  appears  from 
Morton,  Josselyn,  and  other  writers,  that  the  earthquake  extended  to  New 
England  and  New  Netherlands,  producing  similar  effects  on  the  imagi- 
nation of  the  people. 


16G3.]  AVAUGOUR  RECALLED.  129 

reparation.  It  was  about  this  time  that  the  thorn 
which  had  pLagued  the  church  was  at  length 
plucked  out.  Avaugour  was  summoned  home. 
He  took  his  recall  w^th  magnanimity,  and  on  his 
way  wrote  at  Gaspe  a  memorijil  to  Colbert,  in 
which  he  commends  New  France  to  the  attention 
of  the  king.  "  The  St.  Lawrence,"  he  says,  "  is 
the  entrance  to  what  may  be  made  the  greatest 
state  in  the  world ; "  and,  in  his  purely  military 
way,  he  recounts  the  means  of  realizing  this 
grand  possibility.  Three  thousand  soldiers  should 
be  sent  to  the  colony,  to  be  discharged  and  turned 
into  settlers  after  three  years  of  service.  During 
these  three  years  they  may  make  Quebec  an  im- 
pregnable fortress,  subdue  the  Iroquois,  build  a 
strong  fort  on  the  river  where  the  Dutch  have 
a  miserable  wooden  redoubt,  called  Fort  Orange 
[^Albcmy'],  and  finally  open  a  way  by  that  river  to 
the  sea.  Thus  the  heretics  Avill  be  driven  out,  and 
the  king  will  be  master  of  America,  at  a  total  cost 
of  about  four  hundred  thousand  francs  yearly  for 
ten  years.  He  closes  his  memorial  by  a  short  allu- 
sion to  the  charges  against  liim,  and  to  his  forty 
years  of  faitlif ul  service ;  and  concludes,  speaking 
of  the  authors  of  his  recall,  Laval  and  the  Jesuits : 
"  By  reason  of  the  respect  I  owe  their  cloth,  I  will 
rest  content,  monseigneur,  with  assuring  you  that 
I  have  not  only  served  the  king  with  fidelity,  but 
also,  by  the  grace  of  God,  with  very  good  success, 
considering  the  means  at  my  disposal."^  He  had, 
in  truth,  borne  himself  as  a  brave  and  experienced 

1  Avaugour,  Meuioire,  Gaspi,  4  Aotk  1CG3. 
9 


130  LAVAL  AND  AVAUGOUR.  [16G3. 

soldier;  and  lie  soon  after  died  a  soldier's  death, 
while  defending  the  fortress  of  Zrin,  in  Croatia, 
against  the  Turks.^ 

1  iMtre  de  Colbert  au  Marquis  de  Tracy,  1G64.     M^oire  du  Roy,  pour 
leivir  d'instruclion  au  Sieur  Talon 


CHAPTER  Vn. 

1661-1664. 

LAVAL  JlSD  DUMESNIL 

Pi:RONNE  Ddmesnil.  —  The  Old  Council.  —  Alleged  Mcrder.  — 
The  New  Council  — Bourdon  and  Villerat.  —  Strong  Mea» 
URES.  —  Escape  of  Dumesnil.  —  Views  of  Colbert. 

Though  the  jDroposals  of  Avaugoiir's  memorial 
were  not  adopted,  it  seems  to  have  produced  a 
strong  impression  at  court.  For  this  impression 
the  minds  of  the  king  and  his  minister  had  already 
been  prepared.  Two  years  before,  the  inhabitants 
of  Canada  had  sent  one  of  their  number,  Pierre 
Boucher,  to  represent  their  many  grievances  and 
ask  for  aid.^  Boucher  had  had  an  audience  of  the 
young  king,  who  listened  with  interest  to  his  state- 
ments ;  and  when  in  the  following  year  he  returned 
to  Quebec,  he  was  accompanied  by  an  officer  named 
Dumont,  who  had  under  his  command  a  hundred 
soldiers  for  the  colony,  and  was  commissioned  to 
report  its   condition  and  resources.^     The  move- 

^  To  promote  the  objects  of  his  mission,  Boucher  wrote  a  little  book, 
Histoire  Veritable  et  Naturelle  cles  Maeurs  et  Productions  du  Pays  de  la  Nou 
oelle  France.     He  dedicates  it  to  Colbert. 

2  A  long  journal  of  Dumont  is  printed  anonymously  in  the  Relation 
of  1663. 


132  LAVAL  AND   DUMKSNIL.  11G60-63 

inciit  seemed  to  betoken  that  the  government  was 
^wakenhiij:  at  last  from  its  lonsc  inaction. 

Meanwhile  the  Company  of  New  France,  feudal 
lord  of  Canada,  had  also  shown  sic!:ns  of  retiirnino; 
life.  Its  whole  history  had  been  one  of  mishap, 
followed  by  discouragement  and  apathy;  and  it  is 
difficult  to  say  vliether  its  ownership  of  Canada 
had  been  more  hurtful  to  itself  or  to  the  colony. 
At  the  eleventh  hour  it  sent  out  an  agent  invested 
with  powers  of  controller-general,  intendant,  and 
supreme  judge,  to  inquire  into  the  state  of  its 
affairs.  This  agent,  Peronne  Dumesnil,  arrived 
early  in  the  autumn  of  1G60,  and  set  himself  with 
great  vigor  to  his  work.  He  was  an  advocate  of 
the  Parliament  of  Paris,  an  active,  aggressive,  and 
tenacious  person,  of  a  temper  well  fitted  to  rip  up 
an  old  abuse  or  probe  a  delinquency  to  the  bottom. 
His  proceedings  quickly  raised  a  storm  at  Quebec. 

It  may  be  remembered  that,  many  years  before, 
the  company  had  ceded  its  monopoly  of  the  fur 
trade  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  colony,  in  considera- 
tion of  that  annual  payment  in  beaver-skins  which 
had  been  so  tardily  and  so  rarely  made.  The  direc- 
tion of  the  trade  had  at  that  time  been  placed  in 
the  hands  of  a  council  composed  of  the  governor, 
the  superior  of  the  Jesuits,  and  several  other  mem- 
bers. Various  changes  had  since  taken  place,  and 
the  trade  w^as  now  controlled  by  another  council, 
established  without  the  consent  of  the  company,^ 
and  composed  of  the  principal  persons  in  the  col- 
ony.    The  members  of  this  council,  with  certain 

I  Registi-es  du  Conseil  du  Roy ;  Reponse  a  Ja  requeste  presenile  au  Roy, 


i6G0-63  I  MONOPOLISTS.  135 

prominent  merchants  in  league  with  them,  en- 
grossed all  the  trade,  so  that  the  inhabitants  at 
large  profited  nothing  by  the  right  which  the  com- 
pany had  ceded ;  ^  and  as  the  councillors  controlled 
not  only  the  trade  but  all  the  financial  affairs  of 
Canada,  while  the  remoteness  of  their  scene  of 
operations  made  it  difficult  to  supervise  them,  they 
were  able,  with  little  risk,  to  pursue  their  own 
profit,  to  the  detriment  both  of  the  company  and 
the  colony.  They  and  their  allies  formed  a  petty 
trading  oligarchy,  as  pernicious  to  the  prosperity  of 
Canada  as  the  Iroquois  war  itself. 

The  company,  always  anxious  for  its  beaver- 
skins,  made  several  attempts  to  control  the  pro- 
ceedings of  the  councillors  and  call  them  to  account, 
but  with  little  success,  till  the  vigorous  Dumesnil 
undertook  the  task,  Avhen,  to  their  wrath  and  con- 
sternation, they  and  their  friends  found  themselves 
attacked  by  wholesale  accusations  of  fraud  and  em- 
bezzlement. That  these  charg-es  were  exaoracerated 
there  can  be  little  doubt ;  that  they  were  unfounded 
is  incredible,  in  view  of  the  effect  they  produced. 

The  councillors  refused  to  acknowledge  Dumes- 
nil's  powers  as  controller,  intendant,  and  judge,  and 
declared  his  proceedings  null.  He  retorted  by 
charging  them  with  usurpation.  The  excitement 
increased,  and  Dumesnil's  life  was  threatened. 

He  had  two  sons  in  the  colony.  One  of  them, 
Peronne  de  Maze,  was  secretary  to  Avaugour,  then 
on  his  way  up  the  St.  Lawrence  to  assmne  the 

I  Arret  da  Conseil  d'Etat,!  ^^ars,  1057.  Also  P(i])iers  d'  Argenson,  and 
Exlra'U  des  liegiities  du  Conseil  d'Etat,  15  Mars,  1G56. 


134  LAVAL   AND   DUMESNIL.  [1661 

government.  The  other,  Peronne  des  Touches, 
was  with  his  father  at  Quebec.  Towards  the  end 
of  August  this  young  man  was  attacked  in  the 
street  in  broad  daylight,  and  received  a  kick  wliich 
proved  fatal.  He  ^vas  carried  to  his  father's  house, 
where  he  died  on  the  twenty-ninth.  Duinesnil 
chaiges  four  persons,  all  of  whom  were  among 
those  into  whose  affairs  he  had  been  prjdng,  with 
having  taken  part  in  the  outrage ;  but  it  is  very 
uncertain  who  was  the  immediate  cause  of  Des 
Touches's  death.  Dumesnil,  himself  the  supreme 
judicial  officer  of  the  colony,  made  complaint  to 
the  judge  in  ordinary  of  the  company;  but  he  says 
that  justice  was  refused,  the  complaint  suppressed 
by  authority,  his  allegations  torn  in  pieces,  and  the 
whole  affair  hushed.' 

At  the  time  of  the  murder,  Dumesnil  was  con- 
fined to  his  house  by  illness.  An  attempt  was  made 
to  rouse  the  mob  against  him,  by  reports  that  he 
had  come  to  the  colony  for  the  purpose  of  laying 
taxes ;  but  he  sent  for  some  of  the  excited  inhab- 
itants, and  succeeded  in  convincing  them  that  he 
was  their  champion  rather  than  their  enemy.  Some 
Indians  in  the  neio;hborhood  were  also  instio-ated 
to  kill  him,  and  he  was  forced  to  conciliate  them 
by  presents. 

'  Dumesnil,  M€moire.  Under  date  August  31  the  Journal  des  J^suite^ 
makes  this  brief  and  guarded  mention  of  the  affair:  "Le  fils  de  Mons. 
du  Mesnil  .  .  .  fut  enterre'  le  mesnie  iour,  tue  d'vn  coup  de  pic  par  N." 
Who  is  meant  by  N.  it  is  difficult  to  say.  The  register  of  the  parish 
church  records  the  burial  as  follows  :  — 

"L'an  IGGl.  Le  30  Aoust  a  este  enterre  au  Cemetiere  de  Quebec 
Michel  peronne  dit  Sr.  des  Touches  fils  de  Mr.  du  Mesnil  decede'  le  Jour 
precedent  a  sa  Maison." 


1662-63.]  THE  NEW  GOVERNMENT.  135 

He  soon  renewed  his  attacks,  and  in  liis  quality 
of  intendant  called  on  the  councillors  and  their 
allies  to  render  their  accounts,  and  settle  the  long 
arrears  of  debt  due  to  the  company.  They  set  his 
demands  at  nauoht.  The  war  continued  month 
after  month.  It  is  more  than  hkely  that  when  in 
the  spring  of  1G62  Avaugour  dissolved  and  recon- 
structed the  council,  his  action  had  reference  to 
these  disputes ;  and  it  is  clear  that  when  in  the 
following  August  Laval  sailed  for  France,  one  of 
his  objects  was  to  restore  the  tranquillity  which 
Dmnesnil's  proceedings  had  disturbed.  There  was 
great  need ;  for,  what  with  these  proceedings  and 
the  quarrel  about  brandy,  Quebec  was  a  little  hell 
of  discord,  the  earthquake  not  having  as  yet  fright- 
ened it  into  propriety. 

The  bishojD's  success  at  court  was  triumphant. 
Not  only  did  he  procure  the  removal  of  Avaugour, 
but  he  was  invited  to  choose  a  new  governor  to 
replace  him.^  This  was  not  all ;  for  he  succeeded 
in  effecting  a  complete  change  in  the  government 
of  the  colony.  The  Company  of  New  France  was 
called  upon  to  resign  its  claims ;  ^  and,  by  a  royal 
edict  of  April,  1663,  all  power,  legislative,  judicial, 
and  executive,  was  vested  in  a  council  composed 
of  the  governor  whom  Laval  had  chosen,  of  Laval 
himself,  and  of  five  councillors,  an  attorney-gen- 
eral, and  a  secretary,  to  be  chosen  by  Laval  and 
the  governor  jointly.^      Bearing  with  them  blank 

1  La  Tour,  Vie  de  Laval,  Liv.  V. 

2  See  the  deliberations  and  acts  to  this  end  in  Edits  et  Ordonnancea 
wncernanl  le  Canada,  I.  80-32. 

*  Edit  de  Creation  da  Conseil  Sup&ieur  de  Quebec. 


136  LAVAL  AND  DUMESNIL  [1663. 

commissions  to  be  filled  with  the  names  of  the  new 
fmictionaries,  Laval  and  his  governor  sailed  for 
Quebec,  wjiere  they  landed  on  the  fifteenth  of 
September.  With  them  came  one  Gaudais-Diipont, 
a  ro3'al  commissioner  instructed  to  inquire  into  tlie 
state  of  the  colony. 

No  sooner  had  they  arrived  than  Laval  and 
Mezy,  the  new  governor,  proceeded  to  construct  the 
new  council.  Mezy  knew  nobody  in  the  colony, 
and  was,  at  this  time,  comjDletely  under  Laval's 
influence.  The  nominations,  therefore,  were  vir- 
tually made  by  the  bishop  alone,  in  whose  hands, 
and  not  in  those  of  the  governor,  the  blank  com- 
missions had  been  placed.'  Thus  for  the  moment 
he  had  complete  control  of  the  government ;  that 
is  to  say,  the  church  was  mistress  of  the  civil 
power. 

Laval  formed  his  council  as  follows :  Jean  Bour- 
don for  attorney-general ;  Rouer  de  Villeray,  Juch- 
ereau  de  la  Ferte,  Ruette  d'Auteuil,  Le  Gardeur 
de  Tilly,  and  Matthieu  Damours  for  councillors; 
and  Peuvret  de  Mesnu  for  secretary.  The  royal 
commissioner,  Gaudais,  also  took  a  prominent  place 
at  the  board.^  This  functionary  was  on  the  point 
of  marrying  his  niece  to  a  son  of  Robert  Giffard, 

1  Commission  ach-oj/^e  au  Sieitr  Gaudais.  M^moire  pour  servir  d'lnstruc- 
tion  au  Sieur  Gaudais.  A  sequel  to  these  instructions,  marked  secret, 
shows  that,  notwitlistanding  Laval's  extraordinary  success  in  attaining 
liis  objects,  lie  and  the  Jesuits  were  somewhat  distrusted.  Gaudais  is 
directed  to  nialce,  with  great  discretion  and  caution,  careful  inquiry  into 
the  bishop's  conduct,  and  witli  equal  secrecy  to  ascertain  why  tlie  Jesuits 
had  aslved  for  Avaugour's  recall. 

2  As  substitute  for  the  intendant,  an  officer  who  had  been  appointed 
but  who  had  not  arrived. 


1663.1  THE   COUNCIL.  137 

who  had  a  strong  interest  in  suppressing  Dunies- 
iiil's  accusations.^  Dumesnil  had  laid  his  statements 
before  the  commissioner,  Avho  quickJy  rejected 
them,  and  took  part  with  the  accused. 

Of  those  appointed  to  the  new  council,  their 
enemy  Dumesnil  says  that  they  w^ere  "  incapable 
persons,"  and  their  associate  Gaudais,  in  defending 
them  against  worse  charges,  declares  that  they 
were  "  unlettered,  of  little  experience,  and  nearly 
all  unable  to  deal  with  affairs  of  importance."  This 
was,  perhaps,  unavoidable ;  for,  except  among  the 
ecclesiastics,  education  was  then  scarcely  known  in 
Canada.  But  if  Laval  may  be  excused  for  j^utting 
incompetent  men  in  office,  nothing  can  excuse 
him  for  making  men  charged  Avith  gross  public 
offences  the  prosecutors  and  judges  in  their  own 
cause  ;  and  his  course  in  doing  so  gives  color  to  the 
assertion  of  Dumesnil,  that  he  made  up  the  coun- 
cil expressly  to  shield  the  accused  and  smother 
the  accusation.- 

The  two  persons  under  the  heaviest  charges 
received  the  two  most  important  appointments : 
Bourdon,  attorney-general,  and  Villeray,  keeper  of 

1  Dumesnil  liere  makes  one  of  the  few  mistakes  I  liave  been  able  to 
detect  in  his  long  niemorials.  He  says  that  the  name  of  the  niece  of 
Gaudais  was  AJuria  Xau.  It  was,  in  fact,  MIchelle-T/icrese  JS'uu,  who  mar- 
ried Joseph,  son  of  Robert  Gift'ard,  on  the  22d  of  October,  1GG3.  Dumes- 
nil had  forgotten  the  bride's  first  name.  The  elder  Gitiiird  was  surety  for 
Rcpentigny,  whom  Dumesnil  charged  with  liabilities  to  the  company, 
amounting  to  644,700  livres.  Giffard  was  also  father-in-law  of  Juchcreau 
de  la  Ferte,  one  of  the  accused. 

-  Dumesnil  goes  further  than  tliis,  for  lie  plainly  mtimates  that  tho 
removing  from  power  of  the  company,  to  whom  the  acc-used  were  respon- 
sible, and  the  placing  in  power  of  a  council  formed  of  the  accused  them- 
selves, was  a  device  contrived  from  the  first  by  Laval  aKd  the  Jesuits,  to 
get  their  friends  out  of  trouble. 


138  LAVAL   AND   DUMESNIL.  [1663. 

tlie  seals.  La  Ferte  was  also  one  of  the  aijcusedj 
Of  Villera}^,  the  governor  Argenson  had  written 
in  1659  :  "  Some  of  his  qualities  are  good  enough, 
but  confidence  cannot  be  placed  in  liim,  on  account 
of  his  instability."  ^  In  the  same  year,  he  had 
been  ordered  to  France,  "  to  purge  himself  of  sun- 
dry crimes  wherewith  he  stands  charged."  ^  He 
was  not  yet  free  of  suspicion,  having  returned  to 
Canada  under  an  order  to  make  up  and  render  his 
accounts,  which  he  had  not  yet  done.  Dumesnil 
says  that  he  first  came  to  the  colony  in  1651,  as 
valet  of  the  governor  Lauson,  who  had  taken  him 
from  the  jail  at  Rochelle,  where  he  was  imprisoned 
for  a  debt  of  seventy-one  francs,  •'  as  appears  by 
the  record  of  the  jail  of  date  July  eleventh  in  that 
year."  From  this  modest  beginning  he  became  in 
time  the  richest  man  in  Canada.^  He  was  strono^  in 
orthodoxy,  and  an  ardent  supporter  of  the  bishop 
and  the  Jesuits.  He  is  alternately  praised  and 
blamed,  according  to  the  partisan  leanings  of  the 
writer. 

1  Bourdon  is  charged  with  not  having  accounted  for  an  immense 
quantity  of  heaver-skins  whicli  liad  passed  tlirougli  his  hands  during 
twelve  years  or  more,  and  wliich  are  valued  at  more  than  300,000  livres. 
Other  charges  are  made  against  him  in  connection  with  large  sums  bor- 
rowed in  Lauson's  time  on  account  of  the  colony.  In  a  memorial  ad- 
dressed to  the  king  in  council,  Dumesnil  says  that,  in  1662,  Bourdon, 
according  to  his  own  accoimts,  had  in  his  hands  37,516  livres  belonging 
to  the  company,  which  he  still  retained. 

ViJleray's  liabilities  arose  out  of  the  unsettled  accounts  of  his  father- 
in-law,  Charles  Sevestre,  and  are  set  down  at  more  than  600,000  livres. 
La  Fertc's  are  of  a  smaller  amount.  Others  of  the  council  were  indi* 
rectly  involved  in  the  charges. 

2  Lfllre  (V Argenson,  20  Nov.,  1659. 
»  Edit  da  not/,  13  Mai,  1659. 

*  Lett--e  de  Colbert  a  Frontenac,  17  Mai,  1674. 


1663.]  STRONG  MEASURES.  139 

Bourdon,  though  of  humble  origin,  was,  perhaps, 
the  most  intelhgent  man  in  the  council.  He  was 
chiefly  known  as  an  engineer,  but  he  had  also  been 
a  l)aker,  a  painter,  a  syndic  of  the  inhabitants, 
chief  gunner  at  the  fort,  and  collector  of  customs 
for  the  company.  Whether  guilty  of  embezzle- 
ment or  not,  he  was  a  zealous  devotee,  and  would 
probably  have  died  for  his  creed.  Like  Villeray, 
he  was  one  of  Laval's  stanchest  supporters,  while 
the  rest  of  the  council  were  also  sound  in  doctrine 
and  sure  in  allegiance. 

Li  ^drtue  of  their  new  dignity,  the  accused  now 
claimed  exemption  from  accountability ;  but  this 
was  not  all.  The  abandonment  of  Canada  by  the 
company,  in  leaving  Dumesnil  without  support, 
and  depriving  him  of  official  character,  had  made 
his  charges  far  less  dangerous.  Nevertheless,  it 
was  thought  best  to  suppress  them  altogether,  and 
the  first  act  of  the  new  government  was  to  tliis 
end. 

On  the  twentieth  of  September,  the  second  day 
after  the  establishment  of  the  council.  Bourdon, 
in  his  character  of  attorney-general,  rose  and  de- 
manded that  the  papers  of  Jean  Peronne  Dumesnil 
should  be  seized  and  sequestered.  The  council  con- 
sented, and,  to  complete  the  scandal,  Villeray  was 
commissioned  to  make  the  seizure  in  the  presence 
of  Bourdon.  To  color  the  proceeding,  it  was  alleged 
that  Dumesnil  had  obtained  certain  papers  unlaw- 
fully from  the  grcffe  or  record  office.  "  As  he  was 
thought,"  says  Gaudais,  "  to  be  a  violent  man/ 


140  LAVAL  AKD    DUMESNIL.  flCGS 

Bourdon  and  Yilleray  took  with  tliem  ten  .soldiers, 
well  armed,  together  with  a  locksmith  and  the 
secretary  of  the  council.  Thus  prepared  for  every 
contingency,  they  set  out  on  their  errand,  and 
appeared  suddenly  at  Dumesnil's  house  hetween 
seven  and  eight  o'clock  in  the  evening.  "  The 
aforesaid  Sieur  Dumesnil,"  further  says  Gaudais, 
"  did  not  refute  the  opinion  entertained  of  his 
violence ;  for  he  made  a  great  noise,  shouted  roh- 
hers !  and  tried  to  rouse  the  neighborhood,  out- 
rageously abusing  the  aforesaid  Sieur  de  Villeray 
and  the  attorney-general,  in  great  contempt  of  the 
authority  of  the  council,  which  he  even  refused  to 
recoo;nize." 

They  tried  to  silence  him  by  threats,  but  with- 
out effect ;  upon  which  they  seized  him  and  held 
him  fast  in  a  chair ;  "  me,"  Avrites  the  wratliful 
Dumesnil,  "avIio  had  lately  been  their  judge." 
The  soldiers  stood  over  him  and  stopped  his  mouth 
while  the  others  broke  open  and  ransacked  his 
cabinet,  drawers,  and  chest,  from  which  they  took 
all  his  papers,  refusing  to  give  him  an  inventory,  or 
to  permit  any  witness  to  enter  the  house.  Some  of 
these  papers  were  private  ;  among  the  rest  were,  he 
says,  the  charges  and  specifications,  nearly  finished, 
for  the  trial  of  Bourdon  and  Villeray,  toge  ther  with 
the  proofs  of  their  "  peculations,  extortions,  and 
malversations."  The  papers  were  enclosed  under 
seal,  and  deposited  in  a  neighboring  house,  whence 
they  were  afterwards  removed  to  the  council- 
chamber,  and  Dumesnil  never  saw  them  again.     It 


16G3.]  DESIGNS  OF  THE   COUNCIL.  141 

may  well  be  believed  that  this,  the  hicaiicrnral  act 
of  the  new  council,  was  not  allowed  to  appear  or. 
its  records.' 

On  the  twenty-first,  Villeray  made  a  formal  re 
[)()rt  of  the  seizure  to  his  colleagues;  upon  which, 
"  by  reason  of  the  insults,  violences,  and  irrever- 
ences therein  set  forth  against  the  aforesaid  Sieur 
de  Villerav,  commissioner,  as  also  acrainst  the 
aathority  of  the  council,"  it  was  ordered  that  the 
offending  Dumesnil  should  be  put  under  arrest; 
but  Gaudais,  as  he  declares,  prevented  the  order 
from  being  carried  into  effect. 

Dumesnil,  who  says  that  during  the  scene  at  his 
house  he  had  exj^ected  to  be  murdered  like  his 
son,  now,  though  unsupported  and  alone,  returned 
to  the  attack,  demanded  his  papers,  and  was  so 
loud  in  threats  of  complaint  to  the  Iving  that  the 
council  were  seriouslj;^  alarmed.  They  again  decreed 
his  arrest  and  imprisonment ;  but  resolved  to  keep 
the  decree  secret  till  the  morning  of  the  day  Avlien 
the  last  of  the  returning  ships  was  to  sail  for  France. 
In  this  ship  Dumesnil  had  taken  liis  passage,  and 
they  proposed  to  arrest  him  unexpectedly  on  the 
point  of  embarkation,  that  he  might  have  no  time 
to  prepare  and  despatch  a  memorial  to  the  court. 
Thus  a  full  year  must  elapse  before  his  complaints 
could  reach  the  minister,  and  seven  or  eight  months 
more  before  a  reply  could  be  returned  to  Canada. 
During  this  long  delay  the  affair  "would  have  time 
to  cool.     Dumesnil  received  a  secret  warning  of 

•  The  above  is  drawn  from  the  two  memorials  of  Gaudais  and  o! 
Dvimesnil.     They  do  not  contradict  each  other  as  to  the  essential  facts. 


142  LAVAL  AND  DUMESNIL.  [166a 

this  plan,  and  accordingly  went  on  board  another 
vessel,  which  was  to  sail  immediately.  The  council 
caused  the  six  cannon  of  the  battery  in  the  Low^er 
Town  to  be  pointed  at  her,  and  threatened  to  sink 
her  if  she  left  the  harbor;  but  she  disregarded 
them,  and  proceeded  on  her  way. 

On  reaching  France,  Dumesnil  contrived  to  draw 
the  attention  of  the  minister  Colbert  to  his  accusa- 
tions, and  to  the  treatment  they  had  brought  upon 
him.  On  this  Colbert  demanded  of  Gaudais,  who 
had  also  returned  in  one  of  the  autumn  ships,  why 
he  had  not  reported  these  matters  to  him.  Gaudais 
made  a  lame  attempt  to  explain  his  silence,  gave 
his  statement  of  the  seizure  of  the  papers,  answered 
in  vague  terms  some  of  Dumesnil's  charges  against 
the  Canadian  financiers,  and  said  that  he  had 
nothing  to  do  with  the  rest.  In  the  follomng 
spring  Colbert  wrote  as  follows  to  his  relative 
Terron,  intendant  of  marine :  — 

"I  do  not  know  w^hat  report  M.  Gaudais  has 
made  to  you,  but  family  interests  and  the  connec- 
tions which  he  has  at  Quebec  should  cause  liim 
to  be  a  little  distrusted.  On  his  arrival  in  that 
country,  having  constituted  liimself  chief  of  the 
council,  he  despoiled  an  agent  of  the  Company  of 
Canada  of  all  his  papers,  in  a  manner  very  violent 
and  extraordinary,  and  this  proceeding  leaves  no 
doul)t  whatever  that  these  papers  contained  matters 
the  knowledge  of  wdiich  it  was  wished  absolutely 
to  suppress.  I  think  it  will  be  very  proper  that 
you  should  be  informed  of  the  statements  made  by 
this  agent,  in  order  that,  through  hun,  an  exact 


1663.]  CHARGES   OF  DUMESNIL.  l43 

knowledge  m<ij  be  acquired  of  every  tiling  that  lia? 
taken  j)lace  in  the  management  of  affairs."  ^ 

Whether  Terron  pursued  the  inquiry  does  not 
appear.  Meanwhile  new  quarrels  had  arisen  at 
Quebec,  and  the  questions  of  the  past  were  obscured 
in  the  dust  of  fresh  commotions.  Nothing  is  more 
noticeable  in  the  whole  history  of  Canada,  after  it 
came  under  the  direct  control  of  the  Crown,  than 
the  hel^^less  manner  in  which  this  absolute  govern- 
ment was  forced  to  overlook  and  isrnore  the  dis- 

o 

obedience  and  rascality  of  its  functionaries  in  tliis 
distant  transatlantic  dependency. 

As  regards  Dumesnil's  charges,  the  truth  seems 
to  be,  that  the  financial  managers  of  the  colony, 
being  ignorant  and  unpractised,  had  kept  imper- 
fect and  confused  accounts,  which  they  themselves 
could  not  always  unravel ;  and  that  some,  if  not  all 
of  them,  had  made  ilhcit  profits  under  cover  of  this 
confusion.  That  their  stealings  approached  the 
enormous  sum  at  which  Dumesnil  places  them  is  not 
to  be  believed.  But,  even  on  the  grossly  improbable 
assumption  of  their  entire  innocence,  there  can  be 
no  apology  for  the  means,  subversive  of  all  justice, 
by  which  Laval  enabled  his  partisans  and  support- 
ers to  extricate  themselves  from  embarrassment. 


1  Lettre  de  Colbert  a  Terron,  RocheUe,  8  Fev.,  1G64.  "  II  a  spolic  un 
agent  de  la  Conipagnie  de  Canada  de  tous  scs  papicrs  d'une  maniore 
fort  violente  et  extraordinaire,  et  ce  procede  ne  laisse  point  il  douter 
que  dans  ces  papiers  il  n'y  eut  des  choses  dont  on  a  voulu  absolument 
Bupprimer  la  connaissance,"  Colbert  seems  to  liave  received  an  ex- 
aggerated impression  of  the  part  borue  by  Gaudais  in  the  seizure  ot 
the  papers. 


144  LAVAL   AND   DUMESNIL.  [1665» 

Note. — Dumesnil'a  principal  memorial,  preserved  in  the  ar- 
chives of  the  ]Marine  and  Colonies,  is  entitled  Mcmoire  concernant  les 
Affaires  du  Canada,  qui  monlre  et  fait  voir  que  sous  jire'texle  de  la 
Gbire  de  Dieu,  d^ Instruction  des  Sauvages,  de  servir  le  lloy  et  de 
faire  la  nouvelle  Colonic,  il  a  ete  pris  et  diverli  trols  millions  de  livres 
ou  environ.  It  forms  in  the  copy  before  me  thirty-eight  pages  of 
manuscript,  and  bears  no  address  ;  but  seems  meant  for  Colbert, 
or  the  council  of  state.  There  is  a  second  memorial,  which  is 
little  else  than  an  abi-idgment  of  the  first.  A  third,  bearing  the 
address  Au  lloy  et  a  nos  K^eic/neurs  du  Conseil  {d'l:^lnl),  and  signed 
Pcronne  Dumesnil,  is  a  petition  for  the  payment  of  10,1;j2  livres 
due  to  him  by  the  company  for  his  services  in  Canada,  "  ou  il  a 
perdu  son  fils  assassine  par  les  comptables  du  dit  pays,  qui  n'ont 
voulu  rendre  compte  au  dit  suppUant,  Intendant,  et  ont  pille  sa 
maison,  ses  meubles  etpapiers  le  20  du  mois  de  Septembre  dernier, 
dont  il  y  a  acte." 

Gaudais,  in  compliance  with  the  demands  of  Colbert,  gives  his 
statement  in  a  long  memorial,  Le  Sieur  Gaudais  Dupont  a  Mon- 
seigneur  de  Colbert,  1664. 

Dumesnil,  in  his  principal  memorial,  gives  a  Ust  of  the  alleged 
defaulters,  with  the  special  charges  against  each,  and  the  amounts 
for  which  he  reckons  them  liable.  The  accusations  cover  a  period 
of  ten  or  twelve  years,  and  sometimes  more.  Some  of  tliem  are 
curiously  suggestive  of  more  recent  "rings."  Thus  Jean  Gloria 
makes  a  charge  of  thirty-one  hundred  livres  (francs)  for  fii^works 
to  celebrate  the  king's  marriage,  when  the  actual  cost  is  said  to 
have  been  about  forty  livres.  Others  are  alleged  to  have  embezzled 
the  funds  of  the  company,  under  cover  of  pretended  payments  to 
imaginary  creditors  ;  and  Argenson  himself  is  said  to  have  eked  out 
his  miserable  salary  by  drawing  on  the  company  for  the  pay  of 
soldiers  who  did  not  exist. 

The  records  of  the  Council  preserve  a  guarded  silence  about  this 
affair.  I  find,  liowever,  under  date  20  Sept.,  1G63,  "  Pouvoir  a  M. 
de  Villeray  de  faire  recherche  dans  la  maison  dhin  nomnie  du  Mcs- 
nil  des  papiers  appartenants  au  Conseil  concernant  Sa  Majeste  ;  " 
and  under  date  18  March,  1664,  "  Ordre  pour  I'ouverture  du  coffre 
coutenaut  les  papiers  de  Dumesnil,"  and  also  an  "  Ordre  pour 
mettre  I'Inventaire  des  biens  du  Sr.  Dumesnil  entre  les  mains  d'ct 
Sr.  Fillion." 


CHAPTER  Vni. 

1G57-1G65. 

LAVAL  AND  m£ZY. 

Thk  Bishop's  Choice.  —  A  Military  Zealot.  —  Hopeful  6eoi»- 
NiNGS. —  Signs  of  Storm. —  The  Qcarrel. — Distress  of  MezY.— 
He  Refuses  to  Yield. — His  Defeat  and  Death. 

We  have  seen  that  Laval,  when  at  conrt,  had 
been  invited  to  choose  a  governor  to  his  liking. 
He  soon  made  liis  selection.  There  was  a  pious 
officer,  Saffray  de  Mezy,  major  of  the  to^\Ti  and 
citadel  of  Caen,  whom  he  had  well  known  during 
his  long  stay  with  Bernieres  at  the  Hermitage. 
Mezy  was  the  principal  member  of  the  company  of 
devotees  formed  at  Caen  under  the  influence  of 
Bernieres  and  his  disciples.  In  his  youth  he  had 
been  headstrong  and  dissolute.  Worse  still,  he  had 
been,  it  is  said,  a  Huguenot ;  but  both  in  life  and 
doctrine  his  conversion  had  been  complete,  and  the 
fervid  mysticism  of  Bernieres  acting  on  his  vehe- 
ment nature  had  transformed  him  into  a  red-hot 
zealot.  Towards  the  hermits  and  their  chief  he 
showed  a  docility  in  strange  contrast  with  his  past 
history,  and  followed  their  inspirations  with  an 
ardor  which  sometimes  overleaped  its  mark. 

10 


146  LAVAL   AND   M^ZY.  [1657-59. 

Thus  a  Jacobin  monk,  a  doctor  of  divinity,  once 
came  to  preach  at  the  cliurch  of  St.  Paul  at  Caen ; 
on  which,  according  to  their  custom,  the  brother- 
hood of  the  Hermitage  sent  two  persons  to  make 
report  concerning  liis  orthodoxy.  Mezy  and  an- 
other mihtary  zealot,  "who,"  says  the  narratoi, 
"  hardly  know  how  to  read,  and  assuredly  do  not 
know  their  catechism,"  were  deputed  to  hear  hi? 
first  sermon;  wherein  this  Jacobin,  having  spoken 
of  the  necessity  of  the  grace  of  Jesus  Christ  in 
order  to  the  doing  of  good  deeds,  these  two  mse- 
acres  thought  that  he  was  preaching  Jansenism ; 
and  thereupon,  after  the  sermon,  the  Sieur  de 
Mezy  went  to  the  proctor  of  the  ecclesiastical  court 
and  denounced  him."^ 

His  zeal,  though  but  moderately  tempered  with 
knowledge,  sometimes  proved  more  useful  than  on 
this  occasion.  The  Jacobin  convent  at  Caen  was 
divided  against  itself.  Some  of  the  monks  had 
embraced  the  doctrines  taught  by  Bernieres,  while 
the  rest  held  dogmas  which  he  declared  to  be  con- 
trary to  those  of  the  Jesuits,  and  therefore  hetero- 
dox. A  prior  was  to  be  elected,  and,  with  the 
help  of  Bernieres,  his  partisans  gained  the  victory, 
choosing  one  Father  Louis,  through  whom  the  Her- 
mitage gained  a  complete  control  in  the  convent 
But  the  adverse  party  presently  resisted,  and  com- 
plained to  the  provincial  of  their  order,  who  came 
to  Caen  to  close  the  dispute  by  deposing  Father 
Louis.     Hearing  of  his  approach,  Bernieres  asked 

'  Nicole,  Af^moire  pour  fatre  connoistre  I'esprit  et  la  condnite  de  la  Com 
pagnie  appelUc  I' Hermitage. 


1663.]  S AFFRAY  DE   M^ZY.  147 

aid  from  his  military  disciple,  and  De  Mezy  sent 
him  a  squad  of  soldiers,  who  guarded  the  convent 
doors  and  barred  out  the  provincial.^ 

Among  the  merits  of  Mezy,  his  humility  and 
charity  were  especially  admired  ;  and  the  people  of 
Caen  had  more  than  once  seen  the  town  major 
staggering  across  the  street  with  a  beggar  mounted 
on  his  back,  whom  he  was  bearing  dry-shod  through 
the  mud  in  the  exercise  of  those  virtues.^  In  this 
he  imitated  his  master  Bernieres,  of  whom  similar 
acts  are  recorded.^  However  dramatic  in  manifes- 
tation, his  devotion  was  not  only  sincere  but  in- 
tense. Laval  imagined  that  he  knew  him  well. 
Above  all  others,  Mezy  was  the  man  of  his  choice ; 
and  so  eagerly  did  he  plead  for  liim,  that  the  king 
himself  paid  certain  debts  which  the  pious  major 
had  contracted,  and  thus  left  him  free  to  sail  for 
Canada. 

His  deportment  on  the  voyage  was  edifying,  and 
the  first  days  of  his  accession  were  passed  in  har- 
mony. He  permitted  Laval  to  form  the  new 
council,  and  supplied  the  soldiers  for  the  seizure  of 
Dumesnil's  papers.  A  question  arose  concerning 
Montreal,  a  subject  on  which  the  governors  and 
the  bishop  rarely  differed  in  opinion.  The  present 
instance  was  no  exception  to  the  rule.  Mezy  re- 
moved Maisonneuve,  the  local  governor,  and  imme- 
diately replaced  him ;  the  effect  being,  that  whereas 


»  Und. 

2  Jucliereau,  TJistotre  de  VHotel-Dieu,  149. 

'  See  tlie  laudatory  notice  of  Bernieres  de  Louvigny  in  the  Nouvdl 
Biographie  Universelle. 


148  LAVAL   AND   MtZY.  [1663 

he  had  before  derived  his  authority  from  the  seign- 
iors of  the  island,  he  now  derived  it  from  the 
governor-general.  It  was  a  movement  in  the  in- 
terest of  centralized  power,  and  as  such  was  cor- 
dially approved  by  Laval 

The  first  indication  to  the  bishop  and  the  Jesuits 
that  the  new  governor  was  not  likely  to  prove  in 
their  hands  as  clay  in  the  hands  of  the  potter,  is 
said  to  have  been  given  on  occasion  of  an  inter- 
view wdth  an  embassy  of  Iroquois  chiefs,  to  wdiom 
Mezy,  aware  of  their  duplicity,  spoke  -with  a  deci- 
sion and  hauo-htiness  that  aAved  the  savapjes  and 
astonished  the  ecclesiastics. 

He  seems  to  have  been  one  of  those  natures  that 
run  mth  an  engrossing  vehemence  along  any  chan- 
nel into  which  they  may  have  been  turned.  At 
the  Hermitage  he  was  all  devotee  ;  but  climate  and 
conditions  had  changed,  and  he  or  his  s}Tnptoms 
chano-ed  with  them.     He  found  himself  raised  sud- 

o 

denly  to  a  post  of  command,  or  one  wliich  was 
meant  to  be  such.  The  town  major  of  Caen  was 
set  to  rule  over  a  reo^ion  far  lars^er  than  France. 
The  royal  authority  was  trusted  to  his  keeping,  and 
his  honor  and  duty  forbade  him  to  break  the  trust. 
But  when  he  found  that  those  who  had  procured 
for  him  his  new  dignities  had  done  so  that  he 
might  be  an  instrmnent  of  their  will,  his  ancient 
pride  started  again  into  life,  and  his  headstrong 
temper  broke  out  hke  a  long-smothered  fire.  Laval 
stood  aghast  at  the  transformation.  His  lamb  had 
turned  w^olf . 

What  especially  stirred  the  governor's  dudgeon 


1664.]  THE   QUARREL  BEGUN.  149 

was  the  conduct  of  Bourdon,  Villeray,  and  Au- 
teuil,  those  faithful  allies  whom  Laval  had  placed  on 
the  councU,  and  who,  as  Mezy  soon  found,  were 
wholly  in  the  bishop's  interest.  On  the  13tli  of 
February  he  sent  his  friend  Angoville,  major  of 
the  fort,  to  Laval,  with  a  written  declaration  to  the 
effect  that  he  had  ordered  them  to  absent  them- 
selves from  the  council,  because,  having  been 
ajDpointed  "  on  the  persuasion  of  the  aforesaid 
Bishop  of  Petrsea,  who  knew  them  to  be  wholly  his 
creatures,  they  wish  to  make  themselves  masters  in 
the  aforesaid  council,  and  have  acted  in  divers  ways 
against  tlie  interests  of  the  king  and  the  public  for 
the  promotion  of  personal  and  private  ends,  and 
have  formed  and  fomented  cabals,  contrary  to  their 
duty  and  their  oath  of  fidelity  to  his  aforesaid 
Majesty."^  He  further  declares  that  advantage 
had  been  taken  of  the  facility  of  his  disposition  and 
his  ignorance  of  the  country  to  surprise  him  into 
assenting  to  their  nomination ;  and  he  asks  the 
bishop  to  acquiesce  in  their  expulsion,  and  join  him 
in  calhng  an  assembly  of  the  people  to  choose  others 
in  their  place.  Laval  refused ;  on  which  Mezy 
caused  his  declaration  to  be  placarded  about  Quebec 
and  proclaimed  by  sound  of  drum. 

The  proposal  of  a  public  election,  contrary  as  it 
was  to  the  spirit  of  the  government,  opposed  to  the 
edict  estabHsliing  the  council,  and  utterly  odious  to 
the  young  autocrat  who  ruled  over  France,  gave 

•  Ordre  de  M.  de  M^zy  de  Jaire  sommation  a  I'Eveque  de  Petr€e,  13  Fev., 
1C64.  Notijicalion  du  dit  Ordre,  merre  date.  (Registre  du  Conseil 
Supdrieur.) 


150  LAVAL  AND  MIjZY.  [1664. 

Laval  a  great  advantage.  "I  reply,"  he  wrote, 
*'•'  to  the  request  which  Monsieur  the  Governor 
makes  me  to  consent  to  the  interdiction  of  the 
persons  named  in  his  declaration,  and  proceed  to 
the  choice  of  other  councillors  or  officers  by  an 
assembly  of  the  people,  that  neither  my  conscience 
nor  my  honor,  nor  the  respect  and  obedience  wliich 
I  owe  to  the  ^^ill  and  commands  of  the  king,  nor 
my  fidelity  and  affection  to  his  service,  will  by  any 
means  permit  me  to  do  so."  ^ 

Mezy  was  dealing  with  an  adversary  armed  with 
redoubtable  weapons.  It  was  intimated  to  him  that 
the  sacraments  would  be  refused,  and  the  churches 
closed  against  him.  This  threw  liim  into  an  agony 
of  doubt  and  perturbation ;  for  the  emotional  rehg- 
ion  which  had  become  a  part  of  his  nature,  though 
overborne  by  gusts  of  passionate  irritation,  was  still 
full  of  life  within  him.  Tossing  between  the  old 
feeling  and  the  new,  he  took  a  course  which  reveals 
the  trouble  and  confusion  of  his  mind.  He  threw 
himself  for  counsel  and  comfort  on  the  Jesuits, 
though  he  knew  them  to  be  one  with  Laval  against 
him,  and  though,  under  cover  of  denouncing  sin  in 
general,  they  had  lashed  him  sharjDly  in  their  ser- 
mons. There  is  something  pathetic  in  the  appeal 
he  makes  them.  For  the  glory  of  God  and  the 
service  of  the  king,  he  had  come,  he  says,  on 
Laval's  sohcitation,  to  seek  salvation  in  Canada; 
and  being  under  obligation  to  the  bishop,  who  had 
recommended  him  to  the  king,  he  felt  bound  to 
flhow  proofs  of  his  gratitude  on  every  occasion. 

1  Expanse  de  I'Eveque  de  Petr€e,  16  Fev.,  1664. 


1664.]  DISTRESS   OF    MfeZY.  151 

Yet  neither  gratitude  to  a  benefactor  nor  the 
respect  due  to  his  character  and  person  should  be 
permitted  to  interfere  with  duty  to  the  king,  "  since 
neither  conscience  nor  honor  permit  us  to  neglect 
the  requirements  of  our  office  and  betray  the  in- 
terests of  his  Majesty,  after  receiving  orders  from 
his  lips,  and  making  oath  of  fidelity  between  his 
hands."  He  proceeds  to  say  that,  having  discov- 
ered practices  of  which  he  felt  obliged  to  prevent 
the  continuance,  he  had  made  a  declaration  expel- 
ling the  offenders  from  office ;  that  the  bishop  and 
all  the  ecclesiastics  had  taken  this  declaration  as  an 
offence  ;  that,  regardless  of  the  king's  service,  they 
had  denounced  him  as  a  calumniator,  an  unjust 
judge,  without  gratitude,  and  perverted  in  con- 
science ;  and  that  one  of  the  chief  among  them  had 
come  to  warn  him  that  the  sacraments  would  be 
refused  and  the  churches  closed  against  him. 
"  This,"  writes  the  unhappy  governor,  "  has  agi- 
tated our  soul  with  scruples ;  and  we  have  none 
from  whom  to  seek  light  save  those  who  are  our 
declared  opponents,  pronouncing  judgment  on  us 
without  knowledge  of  cause.  Yet  as  our  salvation 
and  the  duty  we  owe  the  king  are  the  things  most 
important  to  us  on  earth,  and  as  we  hold  them  to 
be  inseparable  the  one  from  the  other;  and  as 
nothing  is  so  certain  as  death,  and  nothing  so  un- 
certain as  the  hour  thereof ;  and  as  there  is  no  time 
to  inform  his  Majesty  of  what  is  passing  and  to 
receive  his  commands ;  and  as  our  soul,  though 
conscious  of  innocence,  is  always  in  fear,  —  we  feel 
obliged,  despite  their  opposition,  to  have  recourse 


1.52  LAVAL   AND   U±ZY.  11664 

to  the  reverend  father  casuists  of  the  House  of 
Jesus,  to  tell  us  in  conscience  what  we  can  do  for 
the  fulfilment  of  our  duty  at  once  to  God  and  to 
Ihe  king."* 

The  Jesuits  gave  him  little  comfort.  Lalemant, 
th»iir  superior,  replied  by  advising  liim  to  follow 
the  directions  of  his  confessor,  a  Jesuit,  so  far  as 
the  question  concerned  spiritual  matters,  adding 
that  in  temporal  matters  he  had  no  advice  to  give.''^ 
The  distinction  was  illusory.  The  quarrel  turned 
wholly  on  temporal  matters,  but  it  was  a  quarrel 
with  a  bishop.  To*  separate  in  such  a  case  the 
spiritual  obligation  from  the  temporal  was  beyond 
the  skill  of  Mezy,  nor  would  the  confessor  have 
helped  him. 

Perplexed  and  troubled  as  he  was,  he  would 
not  reinstate  Bourdon  and  the  two  councillors. 
The  people  began  to  clamor  at  the  interruption 
of  justice,  for  which  they  blamed  Laval,  whom  a 
recent  imposition  of  tithes  had  made  unpopidar. 
Mezy  thereupon  issued  a  proclamation,  in  which, 
after  mentioning  his  opponents  as  the  most  subtle 
and  artfuJ  persons  in  Canada,  he  declares  that,  in 
consequence  of  petitions  sent  him  from  Quebec 
and  the  neighboring  settlements,  he  had  called  the 
people  to  the  council  chamber,  and  by  their  ad\'ice 
had  appointed  the  Sieur  de  Chartier  as  attorney- 
general  in  place  of  Bourdon.^ 

Bourdon  replied  by  a  violent  appeal  from  the 

1  M^zi/  aux  PP.  J€suites,  Fail  au  Chateau  de  Quebec  ce  dernier  jour 
de  Fevrier,  1664. 

2  Lettre  da  P.  H.  Lalemant  a  1/r.  le  Gouverneur. 
'  Declaration  du  Sieur  de  M^zy,  10  Mars,  1664. 


16fi4.]  CONTINUED   STRIFE.  153 

governor  to  the  remaining  members  of  the  comicil,' 
on  which  Mezy  declared  him  excluded  from  all 
public  functions  whatever,  till  the  king's  pleasure 
should  be  known.^  Thus  church  and  state  still 
frowned  on  each  other,  and  new  disputes  soon  arose 
to  widen  the  breach  between  them.  On  the  firsi 
establishment  of  the  council,  an  order  had  been 
passed  for  the  election  of  a  mayor  and  two  alder- 
men {echevhiH)  for  Quebec,  which  it  was  proposed 
to  erect  into  a  city,  though  it  had  only  seventy 
houses  and  less  than  a  thousand  inhabitants.  Re- 
pentigny  was  chosen  mayor,  and  Madry  and  Char- 
ron  aldermen  ;  but  the  choice  was  not  agreeable  to 
the  bishop,  and  the  three  functionaries  declined  to 
act,  influence  having  probably  been  brought  to  bear 
on  them  to  that  end.  The  council  now  resolved 
that  a  mayor  was  needless,  and  the  people  were 
permitted  to  choose  a  syndic  in  his  stead.  These 
municipal  elections  were  always  so  controlled  by 
the  authorities  that  the  element  of  liberty  which 
they  seemed  to  represent  was  little  but  a  mockery. 
On  the  present  occasion,  after  an  unaccountable 
delay  of  ten  months,  twenty- two  persons  cast  their 
votes  in  presence  of  the  council,  and  the  choice 
fell  on  Charron.  The  real  question  was  whether 
the  new  syndic  should  belong  to  the  governor  or 
to  the  bishop.  Charron  leaned  to  the  governor's 
party.  The  ecclesiastics  insisted  that  the  people 
were  dissatisfied,  and  a  new  election  was  ordered, 
but  the  voters  did  not  come.     The  governor  now 

1  Bourdon  an  Conseil,  13  Mara,  1664. 

2  Ordre  du  Gouverneur,  13  Mars,  1664. 


154  LAVAL  AND   M£ZY.  [1664. 

Kent  messages  to  such  of  the  inhabitants  as  ho  knew 
to  be  in  his  interest,  who  gathered  in  the  council 
"".hamber,  voted  imder  liis  eye,  and  again  chose  a 
eiyndic  agreeable  to  him.  Laval's  part^^  protested 
in  vain.^ 

The  councillors  held  office  for  a  year,  and  the 
year  had  now  expired.  The  governor  and  the 
bishop,  it  will  be  remembered,  had  a  joint  power 
of  appointment ;  but  agreement  between  them  was 
impossible.  Laval  was  for  replacing  his  partisans. 
Bourdon,  Yilleray,  Auteuil,  and  La  Ferte.  Mezy 
refused ;  and  on  the  eighteenth  of  September  he 
reconstructed  the  council  by  his  sole  authority, 
retaining  of  the  old  councillors  only  Amours  and 
Tilly,  and  replacing  the  rest  by  Denis,  La  Tesserie, 
and  Peronne  de  Maze,  the  surviving  son  of  Dumes- 
nil.  Again  Laval  protested  ;  but  Mezy  proclaimed 
his  choice  by  sound  of  drum,  and  caused  placards 
to  be  posted,  full,  according  to  Father  Lalemant,  of 
abuse  against  the  bishop.  On  this  he  was  excluded 
from  confession  and  absolution.  He  complained 
loudly ;  "  but  our  reply  was,"  says  the  father, 
"  that  God  knew  every  thing."  ^ 

This  unanswerable  but  somewhat  irrelevant  re- 
sponse failed  to  satisfy  him,  and  it  was  possibly  on 
this  occasion  that  an  incident  occurred  which  is  re- 
counted by  the  bishop's  eulogist,  La  Tour.  He  says 
that  Mezy,  mth  some  unknown  design,  appeared 
before  the  church  at  the  head  of  a  band  of  soldiers, 
while  Laval  was  sa^dng  mass.  The  service  over,  the 
bishop  presented  himself  at  the  door,  on  which,  to 

'  Registre  du  Conseil  Sup€rieur.  2  Journal  des  J^suitee,  Oct.,  1664. 


1664.]  M^ZY'S   DEFEAT.  155 

the  governor's  confusion,  all  the  soldiers  respect- 
fully saluted  him.^  The  story  may  have  some 
foundation,  but  it  is  not  supported  by  contemporary 
evidence. 

On  the  Sunday  after  Mezy's  coup  d'etat,  the 
pulpits  resounded  with  denunciations.  The  people 
listened,  doubtless,  with  becoming  respect  j  but 
their  sympathies  were  with  the  governor ;  and  he, 
on  his  part,  had  made  appeals  to  them  at  more 
than  one  crisis  of  the  quarrel.  He  now  fell  into 
another  indiscretion.  He  banished  Bourdon  and 
Villeray,  and  ordered  them  home  to  France. 

They  carried  with  them  the  instruments  of  their 
revenge,  the  accusations  of  Laval  and  the  Jesuitu 
against  the  author  of  their  woes.  Of  these  accusa- 
tions one  alone  would  have  sufficed.  Mezy  had 
appealed  to  the  people.  It  is  true  that  he  did  s(» 
from  no  love  of  popular  liberty,  but  simply  to  mak(} 
head  against  an  opponent ;  yet  the  act  alone  wan 
enough,  and  he  received  a  peremptory  recall. 
Again  Laval  had  triumphed.  He  had  made  on«; 
governor  and  unmade  two,  if  not  three.  Thcj 
modest  Levite,  as  one  of  his  biographers  calls  him 
in  his  earlier  days,  had  become  the  foremost  power 
in  Canada. 

Laval  had  a  threefold  strength  at  court;  his 
high  birth,  his  reputed  sanctity,  and  the  support 
of  the  Jesuits.  This  was  not  all,  for  the  perma- 
nency of  his  position  in  the  colony  gave  him  another 
advantage.     The  governors  were  named  for  three 

*  La  Tour,  Vie  de  Laval,  Liv.  VII.  It  is  charitable  to  ascribe  thia 
writer's  many  errors  to  carelessness. 


156  LAVAL  AND   MEZY.  [1665 

years,  and  could  be  recalled  at  any  time ;  but  the 
^dcar  apostolic  owed  his  appointment  to  the  P(^pe, 
and  the  Pope  alone  could  revoke  it.  Thus  he  was 
bej^ond  reach  of  the  royal  authority,  and  the  court 
was  in  a  certain  sense  obliged  to  conciliate  him. 
As  for  Mezy,  a  man  of  no  rank  or  influence,  he 
could  expect  no  mercy.  Yet,  though  irritable  and 
violent,  he  seems  to  have  tried  conscientiously  to 
reconcile  conflicting  duties,  or  what  he  regarded  as 
such.  The  governors  and  intendants,  his  succes- 
sors, received,  during  many  years,  secret  instruc- 
tions from  the  court  to  watch  Laval,  and  cautiously 
prevent  him  from  assuming  powers  which  did  not 
belong  to  him.  It  is  likely  that  similar  instruc- 
tions had  been  given  to  Mezy,^  and  that  the  attempt 
to  fulfil  them  had  aided  to  embroil  him  wdth  one 
who  was  probably  the  last  man  on  earth  with  whom 
he  would  willingly  have  quarrelled. 

An  inquiry  was  ordered  into  his  conduct ;  but  a 
voice  more  potent  than  the  voice  of  the  king  had 
called  him  to  another  tribunal.  A  disease,  the 
result  perhaps  of  mental  agitation,  seized  upon 
liim  and  soon  brought  him  to  extremity.  As  he 
la}^  gasping  between  life  and  death,  fear  and  horror 
took  possession  of  his  soul.  Hell  yawned  before 
his  fevered  vision,  peopled  with  phantoms  which 
long  and  lonely  meditations,  after  the  disciphne  of 
Loyola,  made  real  and  palpable  to  his  thought. 
He  smelt  the  fumes   of   infernal  brimstone,  and 

^  The  royal  commissioner,  Gaudais,  wlio  came  to  Canada  with  Me'zy. 
had,  as  before  mentioned,  orders  to  inquire  with  great  secrecy  into  the 
conduct  of  Laval.  The  intendaut.  Talon,  who  followed  immediately 
after,  had  similar  instructions. 


1665.]  DEATH   OF   UtZY.  157 

heard  the  bowlings  of  the  damned.  He  saw  the 
frown  of  the  angry  Judge,  and  the  fiery  swords  of 
avenging  angels,  hiirUng  wretches  hl^e  himseK, 
writhing  in  anguish  and  despair,  into  the  gulf  of 
unutterable  woe.  He  listened  to  the  ghostly  coun- 
sellors who  besieged  his  bed,  bowed  his  head  in 
penitence,  made  his  peace  with  the  church,  asked 
pardon  of  Laval,  confessed  to  him,  and  received 
absolution  at  his  hands ;  and  his  late  adversaries, 
now  benign  and  bland,  soothed  him  mth  promises 
of  pardon,  and  hopes  of  eternal  bliss. 

Before  he  died,  he  wrote  to  the  Marquis  de  Tracy, 
newly  appointed  viceroy,  a  letter  wliicli  indicates 
that  even  in  his  penitence  he  could  not  feel  himself 
wholly  in  the  wrong.^  He  also  left  a  will  in  which 
the  pathetic  and  the  quaint  are  curiously  mingled. 
After  praying  his  patron.  Saint  Augustine,  with 
Saint  John,  Saint  Peter,  and  all  the  other  saints,  to 
intercede  for  the  pardon  of  his  sins,  he  directs  that 
his  body  shall  be  buried  in  the  cemetery  of  the 
poor  at  the  hospital,  as  being  unw^orthy  of  more 
honored  sepulture.  He  then  makes  various  lega- 
cies of  piety  and  charity.  Other  bequests  follow, 
one  of  which  is  to  his  friend  Major  Angoville,  to 
whom  he  leaves  two  hundred  francs,  his  coat  of 
English  cloth,  his  camlet  mantle,  a  pair  of  new 
shoos,  eight  shirts  with  sleeve  buttons,  his  sword 
and  belt,  and  a  new  blanket  for  the  major's  servant. 
Felix  Aubert  is  to  have  fifty  francs,  with  a  gra}? 
jacket,  a  small  coat  of  gray  serge,  "  which,"  say;. 
the  testator,  "  has  been  worn  for  a  while,"  and  a 

^  Lettre  de  Mizy  au  Marquis  de  Tracy,  26  Avril,  1665. 


158  LAVAL  AND   MfiZT.  [1665. 

pair  of  long  white  stockings.  And  in  a  codicil  he 
farther  leaves  to  Angoville  his  best  black  coat,  in 
order  that  he  may  wear  mourning  for  him.^ 

His  earthly  troubles  closed  on  the  night  of  the 
sixth  of  May.  He  went  to  his  rest  among  the 
paupers ;  and  the  priests,  serenely  triumphant,  sang 
requiems  over  his  grave. 

Note.  — Mezy  sent  home  charges  against  the  bishop  and  tho 
Jesuits  which  seem  to  have  existed  in  Charlevoix's  time,  but  for 
\vhich,  as  well  as  for  those  made  by  Laval,  I  have  sought  in  vain. 

The  substance  of  these  mutual  accusations  is  given  thus  by  the 
minister  Colbert,  in  a  memorial  addressed  to  the  Marquis  de  Tracy, 
in  1G65  :  "  Les  Jesuites  I'accusent  d'avarice  et  de  violences  ;  et  lui 
qu'ils  voulaient  entreprendre  sur  I'autorite  qui  lui  a  ete  commise 
par  le  Roy,  en  sorte  que  n'ayant  que  de  leurs  creatures  dans  le 
Conseil  Souverain,  toutes  les  resolutions  s'y  prenaient  selon  leurs 
sentiments." 

The  papers  cited  are  drawn  partly  from  the  Rcgistres  du  Conseil 
Superieiir,  still  preserved  at  Quebec,  and  partly  from  the  Archives 
of  the  Marine  and  Colonies.  Laval's  admirer,  the  abbe  La  Tour, 
in  his  eagerness  to  justify  the  bishop,  says  that  the  quaiTel  arose 
from  a  dispute  about  precedence  between  Mezy  and  the  intendant, 
and  from  the  ill-humor  of  the  governor  because  the  intendant 
shared  the  profits  of  his  office.  The  truth  is,  that  there  was  no 
intendant  in  Canada  during  the  term  of  Mezy's  government.  One 
Robert  had  been  appointed  to  the  office,  but  he  never  came  to  the 
colony.  The  commissioner  Gaudais,  during  the  two  or  three  months 
of  his  stay  at  Quebec,  took  the  intendant's  place  at  the  council- 
board  ;  but  harmony  between  Laval  and  Mezy  was  unbroken  till 
after  his  dejiavture.  Other  writers  say  that  the  dispute  arose  from 
the  old  question  about  brandy.  Towards  the  end  of  the  quarrel 
there  was  some  disorder  from  this  source,  but  even  then  the  brandy 
question  was  subordinate  to  other  subjects  of  strife. 

1  Testament  du  Sieur  de  M€zy.  This  will,  as  well  as  the  letter,  is  ei»- 
grossed  in  the  registers  of  the  council. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

1662-1680. 

LAVAL   AND   THE   SEMINARY. 

Laval's  Visit  to  Court.  —  The  Seminary.  —  Zeal  of  the  Bisnoy.  - 
His  Eulogists.  —  Church  v>nd  State.  —  Attitude  of  Laval. 

That  memorable  journey  of  Laval  to  court, 
which  caused  the  dissolution  of  the  Company  of 
New  France,  the  establishment  of  the  Supreme 
Council,  the  recall  of  Avaugour,  and  the  appoint- 
ment of  Mezy,  had  yet  other  objects  and  other 
results.  Laval,  vicar  apostolic  and  titular  bishop 
of  Petrrea,  wished  to  become  in  title,  as  in  fact, 
bishop  of  Quebec.  Thus  he  would  gain  an  in- 
crease of  dignity  and  authority,  necessary,  as  he 
thought,  in  liis  conflicts  with  the  civil  power ;  "  for," 
he  wrote  to  the  cardinals  of  the  Propaganda,  "I 
have  learned  from  long  experience  how  little  secu- 
rity my  character  of  vicar  apostohc  gives  me  against 
those  charged  with  political  affairs:  I  mean  the 
oflficers  of  the  Crown,  perpetual  rivals  and  con- 
temners of  the  authority  of  the  church."  ^ 

'  For  a  long  extract  from  this  letter,  copied  from  the  original  in  the 
archives  of  the  Propaganda  at  Rome,  see  ITaillon,  Colonie  Frangaise, 
in.  432 


160  LAVAL   AND   THE    SEMINARY.  [1602-80. 

This  reason  was  for  the  Pope  and  the  cardinals. 
It  may  well  be  believed  that  he  held  a  different 
lanjruao-e  to  the  kin"-.  To  him  he  urajed  that  the 
bishopric  was  needed  to  enforce  order,  suppress 
sin,  and  crush  heresy.  Both  Louis  XIV.  and  the 
queen  mother  favored  his  wishes ;  ^  but  difficulties 
arose  and  interminaDle  disputes  ensued  on  the 
question,  whether  the  proposed  bishopric  sliould 
depend  immediately  on  the  Pope  or  on  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Rouen.  It  was  a  revival  of  the  old  quar- 
rel of  Galilean  and  ultra]  nontane.  Laval,  weary  of 
hope  deferred,  at  length  declared  that  he  would 
leave  the  colony  if  he  could  not  be  its  bishop  in 
, title ;  and  in  1674,  after  eleven  years  of  delay,  the 
;  king  yielded  to  the  Pope's  demands,  and  the  vicar 
apostolic  became  first  bishop  of  Quebec. 

If  Laval  had  to  wait  for  his  mitre,  he  found  no 
delay  and  no  difficulty  in  attaining  another  object 
no  less  dear  to  him.  He  wished  to  provide  priests 
for  Canada,  drawn  from  the  Canadian  population, 
fed  with  sound  and  wholesome  doctrine,  reared 
under  his  eye,  and  moulded  by  his  hand.  To  this 
end  he  proposed  to  establish  a  seminary  at  Quebec. 
The  plan  found  favor  with  the  pious  king,  and  a 
decree  signed  by  his  hand  sanctioned  and  confirmed 
it.  The  new  seminary  was  to  be  a  corporation  of 
priests  under  a  superior  chosen  by  the  bishop ; 
and,  besides  its  functions  of  instruction,  it  was  vested 
with  distinct  and  extraordinary   powers.      Laval, 


1  Anne  (TAutriche  a  Laval,  23  Avril,  1662;  Louts  XIV.  au  Pape,  28 
Jan.,  1664;  Ijouis  XIV.  au  Due  de  Cr€quy,  Ambassadeur  a  Rome,  28 
June,  1664. 


1662-80,1  THE  PARISH  PEIEST.  161 

an  organizer  and  a  disciplinarian  by  nature  and 
training,  would  fain  subject  the  priests  of  his 
dioces'e  to  a  control  as  complete  as  that  of  monks 
in  a  convent.  In  France,  the  cure  or  parish  priest 
was,  with  rare  exceptions,  a  fixture  in  his  parish, 
whence  he  could  be  removed  only  for  grave  reasons, 
and  through  prescribed  forms  of  procedure.  Hence 
he  was  to  a  certain  degree  independent  of  the 
bishop.  Laval,  on  the  contrary,  demanded  that 
the  Canadian  cure  should  be  removable  at  his  will, 
and  thus  placed  in  the  position  of  a  missionary, 
to  come  and  go  at  the  order  of  his  superior.  In 
fact,  the  Canadian  parishes  were  for  a  long  time  so 
widely  scattered,  so  feeble  in  j^opulation,  and  so 
miserably  poor,  that,  besides  the  disciplinary  advan- 
tages of  this  plan,  its  adoption  was  at  first  almost 
a  matter  of  necessity.  It  added  greatly  to  the 
power  of  the  church ;  and,  as  the  colony  increased, 
the  king  and  the  minister  conceived  an  increasing 
distrust  of  it.  Instructions  for  the  "  fixation  "  of 
the  cures  were  repeatedly  sent  to  the  colony,  and 
the  bishop,  while  professing  to  obey,  repeatedly 
evaded  them.  Various  fluctuations  and  changes 
took  place  ;  but  Laval  had  built  on  strong  founda- 
tions, and  at  this  diiy  the  system  of  removable 
cures  prevails  in  most  of  the  Canadian  parishes.  ^ 
Thus  he  formed  his  clergy  into  a  family  Avith 


'  On  the  cstablisliinent  of  tlie  seminary.  uyfoiHloiiPiit  ife  VKvvijne  d" 
Petr€e,  pour  V Elalilissement  da  Seminaire  de  Qik'I/cc  ;  Approhntton  dii  lio'i 
{Edits  et  Ordoinumces,  I.  33,  35) ;  La  Tour,  Vie  de  Lara/,  Liv.  VI. ; 
Eacpiisxe  da  l<i  Vie  de  Laval,  Appendix.  Various  jjiipers  boarinji  on  tlK* 
BuLject  are  printed  in  the  Canadian  Abeille,  from  originals  in  tiie  archives 
of  the  seminary. 

11 


162  LAVAL  AND   THE   SEMINARY.  [1662-80. 

himself  at  its  hea.cl.  His  seminary,  the  mother  who 
had  reared  them,  was  further  charged  to  maintain 
them,  nurse  them  in  sickness,  and  support  them  in 
old  age.  Under  her  maternal  roof  the  tired  priest 
found  repose  among  his  brethren ;  and  thither 
every  year  he  repaired  from  the  charge  of  his 
flock  in  the  wilderness,  to  freshen  his  devotion 
and  animate  his  zeal  by  a  season  of  meditation 
and  prayer. 

The  difficult  task  remained  to  provide  the  neces- 
sary funds.  Laval  imposed  a  tithe  of  one-thirteenth 
on  all  products  of  the  soil,  or,  as  afterwards  settled, 
on  grains  alone.  This  tithe  was  paid  to  the  sem- 
inary, and  by  the  seminary  to  the  priests.  The 
people,  unused  to  such  a  burden,  clamored  and 
resisted  ;  and  Mezy,  in  his  disputes  with  the  bishop, 
had  taken  advantage  of  their  discontent.  It  be- 
came necessary  to  reduce  the  tithe  to  a  twenty- 
sixth,  which,  as  there  was  little  or  no  money  among 
the  inhabitants,  was  paid  in  kind.  Nevertheless, 
the  scattered  and  impoverished  settlers  grudged 
even  tliis  contribution  to  the  support  of  a  priest 
whom  many  of  them  rarely  saw ;  and  the  collection 
of  it  became  a  matter  of  the  greatest  difficulty  and 
uncertainty.  How  the  king  came  to  the  rescue, 
we  shall  hereafter  see. 

Besides  the  great  seminary  where  young  men 
were  trained  for  the  priesthood,  there  was  the 
lesser  seminary  where  boys  were  educated  in  the 
hope  that  they  would  one  day  take  orders.  This 
school  began  in  1668,  with  eight  French  and 
six  Indian  pupils,  in   the  old   house  of  Madame 


1602-80.]  ENDOWMENTS    OF  LAVAL.  1G3 

Couilliircl ;  but  so  far  as  the  Iiiclians  were  concerned 
it  was  a  failure.  Sooner  or  later  they  all  ran  wild 
in  the  woods,  carrying  with  them  as  fruits  of  their 
studies  a  sufficiency  of  prayers,  offices,  and  chants 
learned  by  rote,  along  mth  a  feeble  smattering  of 
Ijatin  and  rhetoric,  which  they  soon  dropped  by 
the  way.  There  was  also  a  sort  of  farm-s(;hooI 
attached  to  the  seminary,  for  the  training  of  a 
humbler  class  of  pupils.  It  was  established  at  the 
parish  of  St.  Joachim,  below  Quebec,  where  the 
children  of  artisans  and  peasants  were  taught  farm- 
ing and  various  mechanical  arts,  and  thoroughly 
grounded  in  the  doctrine  and  discipline  of  the 
church.^  The  Great  and  Lesser  Seminary  still  sub- 
sist, and  form  one  of  the  most  important  Roman 
Catholic  institutions  on  this  continent.  To  them 
has  recently  been  added  the  Laval  University,  rest- 
ing on  the  same  foundation,  and  supported  by  the 
same  funds. 

Whence  were  these  funds  derived  ?  Laval,  in 
order  to  imitate  the  poverty  of  the  apostles,  had 
divested  himself  of  his  property  before  he  came  to 
Canada ;  otherwise  there  is  little  doubt  that  in  the 
fulness  of  his  zeal  he  would  have  devoted  it  to  his 
favorite  object.  But  if  he  had  no  property  he 
had  influence,  and  his  family  had  both  influence 
and  wealth.  He  acquired  vast  grants  of  land  in 
the  best  parts  of  Canada.  Some  of  these  he  sold 
or  exchanged ;    others  he  retained   till   the  yeai 

i  Annates  du  Petit  S^minaire  de  Quebec,  see  AheilU,  Vol.  I. ;  Notice  His- 
torique  sur  le  Petit  S(fininaire  de  Quebec,  Ibid.,  Vol.  IL  ;  Notice  Ilistorique  sur 
la  Paroisse  de  St.  Joachim,  Ibid.,  Vol.  I.  Tlie  Abeille  is  a  ioumal  pub- 
lislied  by  the  seminary. 


/ 


164  LAVAL  AND   THE   SEMINATIY.  [16G2-8a 

1680,  when  lie  gave  them,  with  nearly  all  else  thai 
he  then  possessed,  to  his  seminary  at  Quebec.  The 
lands  with  which  he  thus  endowed  it  included  the 
seigniories  of  the  Petite  Nation,  the  island  of  Jesus, 
and  Beaupre.  The  last  is  of  great  extent,  and  at 
the  ])resent  day  of  immense  value.  Beginning  a 
few  miles  below  Quebec,  it  borders  the  St.  Law- 
rence for  a  distance  of  sixteen  leagues,  and  is  six 
leagues  in  depth,  measured  from  the  river.  From 
these  sources  the  seminary  still  draws  an  abundant 
revenue,  thou2:h  its  sei2:niorial  risrhts  were  com- 
muted  on  the  recent  extinction  of  the  feudal  tenure 
in  Canada. 

Well  did  Laval  deserve  that  his  name  should 
live  in  that  of  the  university  which  a  century  and 
a  half  after  his  death  owed  its  existence  to  his 
-bounty.  This  father  of  the  Canadian  church,  who 
has  left  so  deep  an  impress  on  one  of  the  commu- 
nities which  form  the  vast  population  of  North 
America,  belonged  to  a  type  of  character  to  which 
an  even  justice  is  rarely  done.  With  the  excep- 
tion of  the  Canadian  Garneau,  a  liberal  Catholic, 
those  who  have  treated  of  him,  have  seen  him 
through  a  medium  intensely  Romanist,  coloring, 
hiding,  and  exaggerating  by  turns  both  his  actions 
and  the  traits  of  his  character.  Tried  by  the 
Romanist  standard,  his  merits  were  great;  thoagh 
the  extraordinary  influence  wliich  he  exercised  in 
the  affairs  of  the  colony  were,  as  already  observed, 
by  no  means  due  to  his  spiritual  graces  alone.  To 
a  saint  sprung  from  the  liaiite  nohlesse,  Earth  and 
Heaven  were  alike  propitious.      When  the  viwir- 


•062-«0.J  LAVAL'S  POSITION.  165 

general  Colombiere  pronounced  his  funeral  eulogy 
in  tlie  sounding  periods  of  Bossuet,  he  did  not  fail 
to  exhibit  him  on  the  ancestral  pedestal  where  his 
virtues  would  shine  with  redoubled  lustre.  "  The 
exploits  of  the  heroes  of  the  House  of  Montmo- 
rency," exclaims  the  reverend  orator,  "  form  one 
of  the  fairest  chapters  in  the  annals  of  Old  France ; 
the  heroic  acts  of  charity,  humility,  and  faith, 
achieved  by  a  Montmorency,  form  one  of  the  fairest 
in  the  annals  of  New  France.  The  combats,  victo- 
ries, and  conquests  of  the  Montmorency  in  Europe 
would  fill  whole  volumes ;  and  so,  too,  would  the 
triumphs  won  by  a  Montmorency,  in  America,  over 
sin,  passion,  and  the  devil."  Then  he  crowns  the 
high-born  prelate  with  a  halo  of  fourfold  saintship. 
"  It  was  with  good  reason  that  Providence  permitted 
him  to  be  called  Francis :  for  the  virtues  of  all  the 
saints  of  that  name  were  combined  in  him ;  the  zeal 
of  Saint  Francis  Xavier,  the  charity  of  Saint  Fran- 
cis of  Sales,  the  poverty  of  Saint  Francis  of  Assissi, 
the  self-mortification  of  Saint  Francis  Borgia ;  but 
poverty  was  the  mistress  of  his  heart,  and  he  loved 
her  with  incontrollable  transports." 

The  stories  which  Colombiere  proceeds  to  tell  of 
Laval's  asceticism  are  confirmed  by  other  evidence, 
and  are,  no  doubt,  true.  Nor  is  there  any  reason- 
able doubt  that,  had  the  bishop  stood  in  the  place  of 
Brebeuf  or  Charles  Lalemant,  he  would  have  suf- 
fered torture  and  death  like  them.  But  it  was  his 
lot  to  strive,  not  against  infidel  savages,  but  against 
countrymen  and  Catholics,  who  had  no  disposition 
to  burn  him,  and  would  rather  have  done  him 
reverence  than  wron";. 


166  LAVAL   AND   THE   SEMINARY.  [1662-80. 

To  comprehend  his  actions  and  motives,  it  is 
necessary  to  know  his  ideas  in  regard  to  the  rela- 
tions of  church  and  state.  They  were  those  of 
the  extreme  ultramontanes,  which  a  recent  Jesuit 
preacher  has  expressed  with  tolerable  distinctness. 
In  a  sermon  uttered  in  the  Church  of  Notre  Dame, 
at  Montreal,  on  the  first  of  November,  1872,  be 
thus  announced  them.  "  The  supremacy  and  in- 
fallibility of  the  Pope ;  the  indej^endence  and  liberty 
of  the  church ;  the  subordination  and  siihmission 
of  the  state  to  the  chin^ch ;  in  case  of  conflict 
between  them,  the  church  to  decide,  the  state  to 
submit:  for  wdioever  follows  and  defends  these 
principles,  life  and  a  blessing ;  for  whoever  rejects 
and  combats  them,  death  and  a  curse."  ^ 

These  were  the  principles  which  Laval  and  the 
Jesuits  strove  to  make  good.  Christ  was  to  rule 
in  Canada  through  his  deputy  the  bishop,  and  God's 
law  was  to  triumph  over  the  laws  of  man.  As  in 
the  halcyon  days  of  Champlain  and  Montmagny, 
the  governor  was  to  be  the  right  hand  of  the 
church,  to  wield  the  earthly  sword  at  her  bidding, 
and  the  council  was  to  be  the  agent  of  her  high 
behests. 

France  was  drifting  toward  the  triumph  of  the 
parti  devot,  the  sinister  reign  of  petticoat  and  cas- 
sock, the  era  of  Maintenon  and  Tellier,  and  the 

1  Tills  sermon  was  preached  by  Father  Braun,  S  J.,  on  occasion  of  the 
"Golden  Wedding,"  or  fiftieth  anniversary,  of  Bishop  Bourget  of  Mon- 
treal. A  large  body  of  the  Canadian  clergy  were  present,  some  of  whom 
thought  his  expressions  too  emphatic.  A  translation  by  another  Jesuit 
is  published  in  the  "  Montreal  Weekly  Herald "  of  Nov.  2,  1872 ;  and 
the  above  extract  is  copied  verbatim. 


1062-80.]      MENTAL  CONDITION  OF  LAVAL.      1G7 

fatal  atrocities  of  the  dragonnades.  Yet  the  advanc- 
ing tide  of  priestly  domination  did  not  flow  smoothly. 
The  unparalleled  prestige  which  surrounded  the 
throne  of  the  young  king,  joined  to  his  quarrels 
witli  the  Pope  and  divisions  in  the  church  itself,  dis- 
turbed, though  they  could  not  check  its  progress. 
In  Canada  it  was  otherwise.  The  colony  had  been 
ruled  by  priests  from  the  beginning,  and  it  only 
remained  to  continue  in  her  future  the  law  of  her 
[jast.  She  was  the  fold  of  Christ ;  the  wolf  of  civil 
government  Avas  among  the  flock,  and  Laval  and 
the  Jesuits,  watchful  shepherds,  were  doing  their 
best  to  chain  and  muzzle  him. 

According  to  Argenson,  Laval  had  said,  "  A 
bishop  can  do  what  he  likes ; "  and  his  action  an- 
swered reasonably  well  to  his  words.  He  thought 
himself  above  human  law.  Li  vindicating  the 
assumed  rights  of  the  church,  he  invaded  the  rights 
of  others,  and  used  means  from  which  a  healthy 
conscience  would  have  shrunk.  All  his  thouQ-hts 
jind  sympathies  had  run  from  childhood  in  ecclesi- 
astical channels,  and  he  cared  for  nothing  outside 
the  church.  Prayer,  meditation,  and  asceticism  had 
leavened  and  moulded  him.  During  four  years  he 
had  been  steeped  in  the  mysticism  of  the  Henni- 
tage,  which  had  for  its  aim  the  annihilation  of  self, 
and  through  self-annihilation  the  absorption  into 
God.'  He  had  passed  from  a  life  of  visions  to  a  life 
of  action.  Earnest  to  fanaticism,  he  saw  but  one 
great  object,  the  glory  of  God  on  earth.  He  was 
penetrated  by  the  poisonous  casuistry  of  the  Jesuits, 

^  See  the  maxims  of  Bcrnicires,  published  by  La  Tour. 


168  LAVAL  AND   THE   SEIkHNARiT.  [16(52-80. 

based  on  the  .assumption  that  all  means  are  per- 
mitted when  the  end  is  the  service  of  God ;  and  as 
Laval,  in  his  own  opinion,  was  always  doing  the 
service  of  God,  wdiile  his  opponents  w^ere  alwa3's 
doing  that  of  the  devil,  he  enjoyed,  in  Ihe  use  of 
means,  a  latitude  of  which  we  have  seen  hhn  avail 
himself. 


n. 

THE    COLONY    AND    THE    KING. 


CHAPTER   X. 

1661-1GG5. 
EOYAL   INTERVENTION. 

F0XTAINEI5LEAU.  —  LOUIS     XIV.  —  COLIIERT.  —  TlIB      COMPAWT     Ot 

Tin:   West.  —  Evil   Omexs.  —  Action   of  the   Kixg.  —  Tract, 

COURCELLE,     AND     TaLOX.   TlIE     ReGIMENT     OF     CaRIGNAN-SaL- 

liRES.  —  Tracy  at  Quebec  —  Miracles.  —  A  Holy  War. 

Leave  Canada  behind ;  cross  the  sea,  and  stand, 
on  an  evening  in  June,  by  the  edge  of  the  forest  of 
Fontainebleau.  Beyond  the  broad  gardens,  above 
the  long  ranges  of  moonht  trees,  rise  the  Avails 
and  pinnacles  of  the  vast  chateau ;  a  shrine  of  his- 
tory, the  gorgeous  monument  of  lines  of  vanished 
kings,  haunted  with  memories  of  Capet,  Yalois,  and 
Bourbon. 

There  was  little  thought  of  the  past  at  Fon- 
tainebleau in  June,  IGGl.  The  present  was  too 
dazzluig  and  too  intoxicating;  the  future,  too 
radiant  with  hope  and  promise.  It  was  the  morn- 
mg  of  a  new  reign ;  the  sun  of  Louis  XIV.  was 
rising  in  splendor,  and  the  rank  and  beauty  of 
France  were  gathered  to  pay  it  homage.  A  youth- 
ful court,  a  youthful  king ;  a  pomp  and  magnifi- 


170  ROYAL  INTERVENTION.  [1661 

ceuce  sucli  as  Europe  had  never  seen ;  a  delirium 
of  ambition,  pleasure,  and  love,  —  wrought,  in  many 
a  young  heart  an  enchantment  destined  to  be 
cruelly  broken.  Even  old  courtiers  felt  the  fasci- 
nation of  the  scene,  and  tell  us  of  the  music  at 
evening  by  the  borders  of  the  lakej  of  the  gay 
groups  that  strolled  under  the  shadowing  trees, 
floated  in  gilded  barges  on  the  still  water,  or 
moved  slowly  in  open  carriages  around  its  borders. 
Here  was  Anne  of  Austria,  the  king's  mother,  and 
Marie  Therese,  his  tender  and  jealous  queen ;  his 
brother,  the  Duke  of  Orleans,  with  his  bride  of 
sixteen,  Henriette  of  England  ;  and  his  favorite, 
that  vicious  butterfly  of  the  court,  the  Count  de 
Guiche.  Here,  too,  were  the  humbled  chiefs  of  the 
civil  war,  Beaufort  and  Conde,  obsequious  before 
their  triumphant  master.  Louis  XIV.,  the  centre 
of  all  eyes,  in  the  flush  of  health  and  vigor,  and 
the  pride  of  new-fledged  royalty,  stood,  as  he  still 
stands  on  the  canvas  of  Philippe  de  Champagne, 
attired  in  a  splendor  which  would  have  been  ef- 
feminate but  for  the  stately  port  of  the  youth  who 
wore  it.' 

Fortune  had  been  strangely  bountiful  to  him. 
The  nations  of  Europe,  exhausted  by  wars  and  dis- 
sensions, looked  upon  him  with  respect  and  fear. 
Among  weak  and  weary  neighbors,  he  alone  was 
strong.  The  death  of  Mazarin  had  released  him 
from  tutelage ;  feudalism  in  the  person  of  Conde 

1  On  the  visit  of  the  court  at  Fontainebleau  in  the  summer  of  1661, 
eee  M^moires  de  Madame  de  Motteville,  M^moires  de  Madame  de  La  Fayette, 
M^moiies  de  l'Alh€  de  Choisy,  and  Walckenaer,  M€moires  sur  Madame  dt 
Seoign^. 


16G1.]  LOUIS  XIV.  171 

was  abject  before  him ;  lie  had  reduced  his  parlia- 
ments to  submission ;  and,  in  the  arrest  of  the 
ambitious  prodigal  Fouquet,  he  was  preparing  a 
crushing  blow  to  the  financial  corruption  which 
had  devoured  France. 

Nature  had  formed  him  to  act  the  part  of  king. 
Even  his  critics  and  enemies  praise  the  grace  and 
majesty  of  his  presence,  and  he  impressed  his 
courtiers  with  an  admiration  wdiich  seems  to  have 
been  to  an  astonishing  degree  genuine.  He  car- 
ried airs  of  royalty  even  into  his  pleasures ;  and, 
while  his  example  corrupted  all  France,  he  pro- 
ceeded to  the  apartments  of  Montespan  or  Fon- 
tanges  with  the  majestic  gravity  of  Oljanpian 
Jove.  He  was  a  devout  observer  of  the  forms  of 
religion;  and,  as  the  buoyancy  of  youth  passed 
away,  his  zeal  was  stimulated  by  a  profound  fear 
of  the  devil.  Mazarin  had  reared  him  in  igno- 
rance ;  but  his  faculties  were  excellent  in  their  way, 
and,  in  a  private  station,  would  have  made  hun  an 
efficient  man  of  business.  The  vivacity  of  his 
passions,  and  his  inordinate  love  of  pleasure,  were 
joined  to  a  persistent  will  and  a  rare  power  of 
labor.  The  vigorous  mediocrity  of  his  imderstand- 
ing  delighted  in  grappling  with  details.  His  as- 
tonished courtiers  saw  him  take  on  himself  the 
burden  of  administration,  and  work  at  it  without 
relenting  for  more  than  half  a  century.  Great  as 
was  his  energy,  his  pride  was  far  greater.  As 
king  by  divine  right,  he  felt  himself  raised  im- 
measurably above  the  highest  of  his  subjects; 
but,  Avhile  vindicating  with  unparalleled  haughti- 


172  ROYAL  INTERVENTION.  [1661 

ness  Ill's  claims  to  supreme  authority,  he  was,  at 
the  outset,  filled  with  a  sense  of  the  duties  of  his 
high  place,  and  fired  by  an  ambition  to  make  his 
reign  beneficent  to  France  as  well  as  glorious  to 
himself. 

Above  all  xulers  of  modern  times,  he  was  the 
embodiment  of  the  monarchical  idea.  The  famous 
words  ascribed  to  him,  "I  am  the  state,"  were 
probably  never  uttered ;  but  they  perfectly  ex- 
press his  spirit.  "  It  is  God's  will,"  he  wrote  in 
1666,  "that  whoever  is  born  a  subject  should  not 
reason,  but  obey ;  "  *  and  those  around  him  were  of 
his  mind.  "  The  state  is  in  the  king,"  said  Bos- 
suet,  the  great  mouthpiece  of  monarchy ;  "  the 
will  of  the  people  is  merged  in  his  will.  Oh 
kings,  put  forth  your  powder  boldly,  for  it  is  divine 
and  salutary  to  human  kind."  ^ 

For  a  few  brief  years,  his  reign  was  indeed  salu- 
tary to  France.  His  judgment  of  men,  wdien  not 
obscured  by  his  pride  and  his  passion  for  flattery, 
was  good ;  and  he  had  at  his  service  the  generals 
and  statesmen  formed  in  the  freer  and  bolder  epoch 
that  had  ended  with  his  accession.  Among  them 
was  Jean  Baptiste  Colbert,  formerly  the  intendant 
of  Mazarin's  household,  a  man  wdiose  energies 
matched  his  talents,  and  wdio  had  preserved  his 
rectitude  in  the  midst  of  corruption.  It  was  a 
hard  task  that  Colbert  imposed  on  his  proud  and 
violent  nature  to  serve  the  imperious  king,  mor- 
bidly jealous  of    his  authority,  and   resolved   to 

1  (Euvres  de  Louis  XIV.,  !I.  283. 

2  Bossuet,  Politique  tir€e  de  I'Ecriiure  sainte,  370  (1843), 


1664.1  COLBERT.  173 

accept  no  initiative  but  liis  own.  He  must  counsel 
while  seeming  to  receive  counsel,  and  lead  while 
seeming  to  follow.  The  new  minister  bent  him- 
self to  the  task,  and  the  nation  reaped  the  profit. 
A  vast  system  of  reform  was  set  in  action  amid  the 
outcries  of  nobles,  financiers,  churchmen,  and  all 
who  profited  by  abuses.  The  methods  of  this 
reform  were  trenchant  and  sometimes  violent,  and 
its  principles  were  not  always  in  accord  with  those 
of  modern  economic  science ;  but  the  good  that  re- 
sulted was  incalculable.  The  burdens  of  the  labor- 
ing classes  were  lightened,  the  public  revenues 
increased,  and  the  wholesale  plmider  of  the  public 
money  arrested  with  a  strong  hand.  Laws  were 
reformed  and  codified ;  feudal  tyranny,  which  still 
subsisted  in  many  quarters,  was  repressed ;  agri- 
culture and  productive  industry  of  all  kinds  were 
encouraged,  roads  and  canals  opened,  trade  stimu- 
lated, a  commercial  marine  created,  and  a  powerful 
navy  formed  as  if  by  magic. ^ 

It  is  in  his  commercial,  industrial,  and  colonial 
policy  that  the  profound  defects  of  the  great  min- 
ister's system  are  most  apparent.  It  was  a  system 
of  authority,  monopoly,  and  exclusion,  in  which 
the  government,  and  not  the  individual,  acted 
always  the  foremost  part.  Upright,  incorruptible, 
ardent  for  the  public  good,  inflexible,  arrogant, 
and  domineerino;,  he  soimht  to  drive  France  into 
paths  of  prosperity,  and  create  colonics  by  the 

^  On  Colbert,  see  Clement,  TTistoire  de  Colbert.  Clement,  Lcttres  A 
M^molres  de  Colbert;  Clicriiel,  Adminlslrutton  monarchlque  en  France,  IL 
chap.  vi.  Henri  Martin,  Ilisloire  de  France,  XIII.,  etc. 


174  ROYAL  INTERVENTION.  [16^4 

energy  of  an  imperial  will.  He  feared,  and  with 
reason,  that  the  want  of  enterprise  and  capital 
among-  the  merchants  would  prevent  the  broad 
and  immediate  results  at  which  he  aimed ;  and,  to 
secure  these  results,  he  established  a  series  of  great 
trading  corporations,  in  which  the  principles  of 
privilege  and  exclusion  were  pushed  to  their  utmost 
limits.  Prominent  among  them  was  the  Compan;y 
of  the  West.  The  king  signed  the  edict  creating 
it  on  the  24th  of  May,  1664.  Any  person  in  tli-^ 
kingdom  or  out  of  it  might  become  a  partner  by 
subscribing,  within  a  certain  time,  not  less  than 
three  thousand  francs.  France  was  a  mere  patch 
on  the  map,  compared  to  the  vast  domains  of  the 
new  association.  Western  Africa  from  Cape  Yerd 
to  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  South  America  be- 
tween the  Amazon  and  the  Orinoco,  Cayenne,  the 
Antilles,  and  all  New  France,  from  Hudson's  Bay 
to  Virginia  and  Florida  were  bestowed  on  it  for 
ever,  to  be  held  of  the  Crow^n  on  the  simple  condi- 
tion of  faith  and  homage.  As,  according  to  the 
edict,  the  glory  of  God  was  the  chief  object  in 
view,  the  company  was  required  to  supply  its  pos- 
sessions with  a  sufficient  number  of  priests,  and 
diligently  to  exclude  all  teachers  of  false  doctrine. 
It  was  empowered  to  build  forts  and  war-ships, 
cast  cannon,  wage  war,  make  peace,  establish 
courts,  appoint  judges,  and  otherwise  to  act  as 
sovereign  within  its  own  domains.  A  monopoly 
of  trade  was  granted  it  for  forty  years. ^  Sugar 
from  the  Antilles,  and  furs  from  Canada,  were  the 

'  Edit  d'Etablissement  de  la  Compagnie  des  Indes  Occidentales. 


1664-68.]  MONOPOLY.  175 

diief  source  of  expected  profit ;  and  Africa  was  to 
supply  the  slaves  to  raise  the  sugar.  Scarcely 
was  the  grand  machine  set  in  motion,  when  its 
directors  betrayed  a  narrowness  and  blindness  of 
pohcy  which  boded  the  enterprise  no  good.  Can- 
ada was  a  chief  sufferer.  Once  more,  bound  hand 
and  foot,  she  was  handed  over  to  a  selfish  league 
of  merchants ;  monopoly  in  trade,  monopoly  in 
religion,  monopoly  in  government.  Nobody  but 
the  company  had  a  right  to  bring  her  the  necessa- 
ries of  hfe ;  and  nobody  but  the  company  had  a 
right  to  exercise  the  traffic  which  alone  could  give 
her  the  means  of  paying  for  these  necessaries. 
Moreover,  the  supplies  which  it  brought  were  in- 
sufficient, and  the  prices  which  it  demanded  were 
exorbitant.  It  was  throttling  its  wretched  victim. 
The  Canadian  merchants  remonstrated.^  It  was 
clear  that,  if  the  colony  was  to  live,  the  system 
must  be  changed;  and  a  change  Avas  accordingly 
ordered.  The  company  gave  up  its  monopoly  of 
the  fur  trade,  but  reserved  the  right  to  levy  a 
duty  of  one-fourth  of  the  beaver-skins,  and  one- 
tenth  of  the  moose-skins :  and  it  also  reserved  the 
entire  trade  of  Tadoussac ;  that  is  to  say,  the  trade 
of  all  the  tribes  between  the  lower  St.  Lawrence  and 
Hudson's  Bay.  It  retained  besides  the  exclusive 
right  of  transporting  furs  in  its  o^^nl  ships,  thus 
controlhng  the  commerce  of  Canada,  and  discour- 
aging, or  rather  extinguishing,  the  enterprise  of 
Canadian  merchants.     On  its  part,  it  was  required 

1  Lettre  du  Conseil  Souverain  a  Colbert,  1G68. 


17G  ROYAL  INTERVENTION  [1GG4-G6. 

to  pay  governors,  judges,  and  all  the  colonial  offi- 
cials out  of  the  duties  which  it  levied.^ 

Yet  the  king  had  the  prosperity  of  Canada  at 
heart ;  and  he  proceeded  to  show  his  interest  in 
her  after  a  manner  hardly  consistent  with  his  late 
action  in  handing  her  over  to  a  mercenary  guardian. 
In  fact,  he  acted  as  if  she  had  still  remained  under 
his  paternal  care.  He  had  just  conferred  the  right 
of  naming  a  governor  and  intendant  upon  the  new 
company  ;  but  he  now  assumed  it  himself,  the  com- 
pany, with  a  just  sense  of  its  own  unfitness,  readily 
consenting  to  this  suspension  of  one  of  its  most  im- 
j)ortant  privileges.  Daniel  de  Remy,  Sieur  de  Cour- 
celle,  was  appointed  governor,  and  Jean  Baptiste 
Talon  intendant.^  The  nature  of  this  duplicate 
government  will  appear  hereafter.  But,  before 
appointing  rulers  for  Canada,  the  king  had  ap- 
pointed a  representative  of  the  Cro^vn  for  all  his 
American  domains.  The  Marcchal  d'Estrades  had 
for  some  time  held  the  title  of  viceroy  for  Amer- 
ica ;  and,  as  he  could  not  fulfil  the  duties  of  that 
office,  being  at  the  time  ambassador  in  Holland, 
the  Marquis  de  Tracy  was  sent  in  his  place,  with 
the  title  of  lieutenant-2:eneral.^ 

1  Ariel  da  Conscil  dtt  Rot/  qui  accorde  a  la  Compa(jnie  le  quart  des castors, 
le  dixlhne  des  orif/imux  el  la  iraite  de  Tadoussac :  Instruclidn  a  Monseigneur  de 
Tract/  et  a  Mpssiettrs  le  Gouverneur  et  I' Intendant. 

Tills  company  prospered  as  little  as  tlie  rest  of  Colbert's  trading 
companies.  AVitliin  ten  years  it  lost  3,523,000  livres,  besides  blighting 
the  colonies  placed  under  its  control.  Reclterches  siir  les  Finances,  cited  by 
Clement,  Ilistoire  de  Colbert. 

-  Commission  de  Lieutenant  G€n^ral  en  Canada,  etc.,  pour  M.  de  Cmircelle, 
23  Mars,  IOIJ.5  ;  Commission  d' Intendant  de  la  Justice,  Police,  et  Finances  en 
Canada,  etc.,  pour  M.  Talon,  23  Mars,  1GG5. 

3  Commission  de  Lieutenant  G(fne'ral  de  VAm^rique  M&idionale  et  Sep 
'enli  ionale  pour  J/.  Prourill:  de  Tracy,  19  Nov.,  1663. 


1665.]  ARRIVAL   OF   TRACY.  177 

Canada  at  this  time  was  an  object  of  veiy  con- 
siderable attention  at  court,  and  especially  in  what 
was  known  as  the  parti  dhot.  The  Relations  of 
the  Jesuits,  appeahng  equally  to  the  spirit  of  re- 
ligion and  the  spirit  of  romantic  adventure,  had,  for 
more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century,  been  the  favor- 
ite reading  of  the  devout,  and  the  visit  of  Laval  at 
court  had  greatly  stimulated  the  interest  they  had 
kindled.  The  letters  of  Argenson,  and  especially 
of  Avaugour,  had  shown  the  vast  political  possi- 
bilities of  the  young  colony,  and  opened  a  vista  of 
future  glories  alike  for  church  and  for  king. 

So,  when   Tracy  set  sail  he  found  no  lack  of 
followers .    A  throng  of  young  nobles  embarked  with 
him,  eager  to  explore  the  marvels  and  mysteries  of 
the  western  world.    The  king  gave  him  two  hundred 
soldiers  of  the  regiment  of  Carignan-Salieres,  and 
promised    that    a   thousand   more    should   follow. 
After  spending  more  than  a  year  in  the  West  In- 
dies, where,  as  Mother  Mary  of   the  Incarnation 
expresses  it,  "  he  performed  marvels  and  reduced 
everybody  to  obedience,"  he  at  length  sailed  up 
the  St.  Lawrence,  and,  on  the  thirtieth  of  June, 
1665,  anchored  in  the  basin  of  Quebec.    The  broad, 
white  standard,  blazoned  with  the  arms  of  France, 
proclaimed  the  representative  of  royalty  ;  and  Point 
Levi   and    Cape    Diamond   and  the   distant  Cape 
Tourmente  roared  back  the  sound  of  the  saluting 
cannon.    All  Quebec  was  on  the  ramparts  or  at  the 
landing-place,  and  all   eyes  were   strained  at  the 
two  vessels  as  they  slowly  emptied  their  crowded 
decks  into  the  boats  alongside.    The  boats  at  length 

12 


178  ROYAL  INTERVENTION.  [1666. 

drew  near,  and  the  lieutenant-general  and  his  suite 
landed  on  the  quay  with  a  pomp  such  as  Quebec 
had  never  seen  before. 

Tracy  was  a  veteran  of  sixty- two,  portly  and 
tall,  "  one  of  the  largest  men  I  ever  saw,"  writes 
Mother  Mary ;  but  he  was  sallow  with  disease,  for 
fever  had  seized  him,  and  it  had  fared  ill  with  him 
tm  the  long  voj^age.  The  Chevalier  de  Chaumont 
walked  at  his  side,  and  young  nobles  surrounded 
liim,  gorgeous  in  lace  and  ribbons  and  majestic  in 
leonine  wigs.  Twenty-four  guards  in  the  king's 
livery  led  the  way,  followed  by  four  pages  and  six 
valets ;  ^  and  thus,  while  the  Frenchmen  shouted  and 
the  Indians  stared,  the  august  procession  threaded 
the  streets  of  the  Lower  Town,  and  climbed  the 
steep  pathway  that  scaled  the  cliffs  above.  Breath- 
ing hard,  they  reached  the  top,  passed  on  the  left 
the  dilapidated  walls  of  the  fort  and  the  shed  of 
mingled  wood  and  masonry  which  then  bore  the 
name  of  the  Castle  of  St.  Louis ;  passed  on  the 
right  the  old  house  of  Couillard  and  the  site  of 
Laval's  new  seminary,  and  soon  reached  the  square 
betAvixt  the  Jesuit  college  and  the  cathedral.  The 
bells  were  ringing  in  a  phrensy  of  welcome.  Laval 
in  pontificals,  surrounded  by  priests  and  Jesuits, 
stood  waiting  to  receive  the  deputy  of  the  Idng ; 
and,  as  he  greeted  Tracy  and  offered  him  the  holy 
water,  he  looked  with  anxious  curiosity  to  see 
what  manner  of  man  he  was.  The  siG:ns  were  aus- 
picious.    The  deportment  of  the  lieutenant-general 

1  Jucheroau  says  that  this  was  his  constant  attendance  when  he  went 
■broad. 


UIC.D.)  THE   REINFORCEMENT.  179 

left  nothing  to  desire.  Aprie-dieic  had  been  placed 
for  lum.  He  declined  it.  They  offered  liim  a  cush- 
ion, but  he  would  not  have  it ;  and,  fevered  as 
he  was,  he  knelt  on  the  bare  pavement  with  a 
devotion  that  edified  every  beholder.  Te  Deum 
was  sung,  and  a  day  of  rejoicing  followed. 

There  was  good  cause.  Canada,  it  was  plain, 
was  not  to  be  wholly  abandoned  to  a  trading  com- 
pany. Louis  XIV.  was  resolved  that  a  new  France 
should  be  added  to  the  old.  Soldiers,  settlers,  horses, 
sheep,  cattle,  young  women  for  wives,  were  all  sent 
out  in  abundance  by  his  paternal  benignity.  Before 
the  season  was  over,  about  two  thousand  persons 
had  landed  at  Quebec  at  the  royal  charge.  "  At 
length,"  writes  Mother  Juchereau,  "  our  joy  was 
completed  by  the  arrival  of  two  vessels  with  Mon- 
sieur de  Courcelle,  our  governor  ;  Monsieur  Talon, 
our  intendant,  and  the  last  companies  of  the 
regiment  of  Carignan."  More  state  and  splendor 
more  young  nobles,  more  guards  and  valets:  foi 
Courcelle,  too,  says  the  same  chronicler,  "  had  a 
superb  train ;  and  Monsieur  Talon,  who  naturally 
loves  glory,  forgot  nothing  which  could  do  honoi 
to  the  king."  Thus  a  sunbeam  from  the  court  fell 
for  a  moment  on  the  rock  of  Quebec.  Yet  all  was 
not  sunshine ;  for  the  voyage  had  been  a  tedious 
one,  and  disease  had  broken  out  in  the  ships.  That 
which  bore  Talon  had  been  a  hundred  and  seven- 
teen days  at  sea,'  and  others  were  hardly  more  fortu- 
nate. The  hospital  was  crowded  with  the  sick ;  so, 
too,  were  the  church  and  the  neighboring  houses ; 

1  Talon  au  ministre,  4  Oct.,  1  dG5. 


180  ROYAL  INTERVENTION.  [1665 

aud  the  nuns  were  so  spent  with  their  labors  that 
seven  of  them  were  brought  to  the  point  of  death. 
The  priests  were  busied  in  converting  the  Hugue- 
nots, a  number  of  whom  were  detected  among  the 
soldiers  and  emigrants.  One  of  them  proved  re- 
fractory, declaring  with  oaths  that  he  would  never 
renounce  his  faith.  Falling  dangerously  ill,  he 
was  carried  to  the  hospital,  where  Mother  Cath- 
erine de  Saint-Augustin  bethought  her  of  a  plan 
of  conversion.  She  ground  to  powder  a  small 
piece  of  a  bone  of  Father  Brebeuf,  the  Jesuit  mar- 
tyr, and  secretly  mixed  the  sacred  dust  with  the 
patient's  gruel;  whereupon,  says  Mother  Juche- 
reau,  "  this  intractable  man  forthwith  became  gentle 
as  an  angel,  begged  to  be  instructed,  embraced  the 
faith,  and  abjured  his  errors  publicly  with  an  ad- 
mirable fervor."  ^ 

Two  or  three  years  before,  the  church  of  Quebec 
had  received  as  a  gift  from  the  Pope,  the  bodies 
or  bones  of  two  saints ;  Saint  Flavian  and  Saint 
Felicite.  They  were  enclosed  in  four  large  coffers 
or  reliquaries,  and  a  grand  procession  was  now 
ordered  in  their  honor.  Tracy,  Courcelle,  Talon, 
and  the  agent  of  the  company,  bore  the  canopy  of 
the  Host.  Then  came  the  four  coffers  on  four 
decorated  litters,  carried  by  the  principal  ecclesi- 
astics. Laval  followed  in  pontificals.  Forty-seven 
priests,  and  a  long  file  of  officers,  nobles,  soldiers, 
and  inhabitants,  followed  the  precious  relics  amid 
the  sound  of  music  and  the  roar  of  cannon.^ 

1  Le  Mercier  tells  the  same  story  in  the  Relation  of  1665. 

2  Compare  Marie  de  I'lncarnation,  Lettre,  16  Oct.,  1660,  with  La  Tour 
Vie  de  Laval,  chap.  x. 


1665.]  REGIMENT   OF  CARIGNAN.  181 

"  It  is  a  ravishing  thing,"  says  Mother  Mary, 
"  to  see  how  marvellously  exact  is  Monsieur  de 
Tracy,  at  all  these  holy  ceremonies,  where  he  is 
always  the  first  to  come,  for  he  would  not  lose  a 
single  moment  of  them.  He  has  been  seen  in 
church  for  six  hours  together,  without  once  going 
out."  But  while  the  lieutenant-general  thus  edified 
the  colony,  he  betrayed  no  lack  of  qualities  equally 
needful  in  his  position.  In  Canada,  as  in  the  West 
Indies,  he  showed  both  vigor  and  conduct.  First 
of  all,  he  had  been  ordered  to  subdue  or  destroy 
the  Iroquois,  and  the  regiment  of  Carignan-SaH- 
eres  was  the  weapon  placed  in  his  hands  for  this 
end.  Four  companies  of  this  corps  had  arrived 
early  in  the  season,  four  more  came  with  Tracy, 
more  yet  with  Salieres,  their  colonel,  and  now  the 
number  was  complete.  As  with  slouched  hat  and 
plume,  bandoleer,  and  shouldered  firelock,  these 
bronzed  veterans  of  the  Turkish  wars  marched  at 
the  tap  of  drum  through  the  narrow  street,  or 
momited  the  rugged  way  that  led  up  to  the  fort, 
the  inhabitants  gazed  with  a  sense  of  profound 
relief.  Tame  Indians  from  the  neighboring  mis- 
sions, wild  Indians  from  the  woods,  stared  in  silent 
wonder  at  their  new  defenders.  Their  numbers, 
their  discipline,  their  uniform,  and  their  martial 
bearing,  filled  the  savage  beholders  with  admira- 
tion. 

Carignan-Salieres  was  the  first  regiment  of  regu- 
lar troops  ever  sent  to  America  by  the  French 
government.  It  was  raised  in  Savoy  by  the  Prince 
of  Carignan  in  1644,  but  was  soon  employed  in  the 


182  ROYAL   INTERVENTION.  [1666. 

service  of  France ;  where,  in  1652,  it  took  a  con- 
sj)iciioiiiJ  part,  on  the  side  of  the  king,  in  the  battle 
with  Conde  and  the  Fronde  at  the  Porte  St. 
Antoine.  After  the  peace  of  the  Pyrenees,  the 
Prince  of  Carignan,  nnable  to  support  the  regiment, 
gave  it  to  the  king,  and  it  was,  for  the  first  time, 
incorporated  into  the  French  armies.  In  1664,  it 
distinguished  itself,  as  part  of  the  aUied  force  of 
France,  in  the  Austrian  war  against  the  Turks. 
In  the  next  year  it  was  ordered  to  America,  along 
with  the  fragment  of  a  regiment  formed  of  Ger- 
mans, the  whole  being  placed  under  the  command 
of  Colonel  de  Salieres.     Hence  its  double  name.^ 

Fifteen  heretics  were  discovered  in  its  ranks, 
and  quickly  converted.^  Then  the  new  crusade 
was  preached ;  the  crusade  against  the  Iroquois, 
enemies  of  God  and  tools  of  the  devil.  The  sol- 
diers and  the  people  were  filled  with  a  zeal  half 
warlike  and  half  religious.  "  They  are  made  to 
understand,"  whites  Mother  Mary,  "  that  this  is  a 
holy  war,  all  for  the  glory  of  God  and  the  salva- 
tion of  souls.  The  fathers  are  doing  wonders  in 
inspiring  them  with  true  sentiments  of  piety  and 

1  For  a  long  notice  of  the  regiment  of  C.arignan-Salieres  (Lorraine), 
see  Susane,  Ancienne  Ivfanterie  Franqaise  V.  236.  The  portion  of  it  which 
returned  to  France  from  Canada  formed  a  nucleus  for  the  reconstruction 
of  the  regiment,  which,  under  the  name  of  the  regiment  of  Lorraine, 
(lid  not  cease  to  exist  as  a  separate  organization  till  1794.  When  it  came 
to  Canada  it  consisted,  says  Susane,  of  about  a  thousand  men,  besides 
about  two  hundred  of  the  other  regiment  incorporated  with  it.  Compare 
M€moire  dn  Roi/  pour  servir  d' instruction  au  Sieur  Talon,  which  corresponds 
very  nearly  with  Susane's  statement. 

2  Besides  these,  there  was  Berthier,  a  captain,  "  Voila  "  writes  Talon  to 
the  king,  "  le  16me  converti ;  ainsi  votre  Majeste  moissonne  dcj^  a  pleines 
mains  de  la  gloire  pour  Dieu,  et  pour  elle  bien  de  la  renomme'e  dans  toute 
I'etendue  de  la  Cliretiente  "     Lettre  du  7  Oct.,  1665. 


1665.!  A   HOLY   WAR.  183 

devotion.  Fully  five  hundred  soldiers  have  taken 
the  scapiilary  of  the  Holy  Virgin.  It  is  we  {the 
Ursulines),  who  make  them ;  it  is  a  real  pleasure 
to  do  such  w^ork ; "  and  she  proceeds  to  relate  a 
"  heau  miracle,''  by  which  God  made  known  his 
satisfaction  at  the  fervor  of  his  military  servants. 

The  secular  motives  for  the  war  were  in  them- 
selves strong  enough ;  for  the  growth  o£  the 
colony  absolutely  demanded  the  cessation  of  Iro- 
quois raids,  and  the  French  had  begun  to  learn 
the  lesson  that,  in  the  case  of  hostile  Indians,  no 
good  can  come  of  attempts  to  conciliate,  unless 
respect  is  first  imposed  by  a  sufficient  castigation. 
It  is  true  that  the  writers  of  the  time  paint  Iroquois 
hostilities  in  their  worst  colors.  In  the  innumer- 
able letters  which  Mother  Mary  of  the  Incarnation 
sent  home  every  autumn,  by  the  returning  ships, 
she  spared  no  means  to  gain  the  sympathy  and  aid 
of  the  devout ;  and,  with  similar  motives,  the 
Jesuits  in  their  printed  Relations,  took  care  to 
extenuate  nothing  of  the  miseries  which  the  pious 
colony  endured.  Avaugour,  too,  in  urging  the 
sending  out  of  a  strong  force  to  fortify  and  hold 
the  country,  had  advised  that,  in  order  to  furnish 
a  pretext  and  disarm  ^he  jealousy  of  the  English 
and  Dutch,  exaggerated  accounts  should  be  given 
of  danger  from  the  side  of  the  savage  confederates. 
Yet,  with  every  allowance,  these  dangers  and  suffer- 
ings were  sufficiently  great. 

The  three  upper  nations  of  the  Iroquois  were 
comparatively  pacific ;  but  the  two  lower  nations, 
the  IVIohawks  and  Oneidas,  were  persistently  hos- 


184  ROYAL  INTERVENTION.  |1665 

tOe ;  making  inroads  into  the  colonj^  by  way  of 
Lake  CliampLain  and  the  RicheUeu,  murdering  and 
scalping,  and  then  vanishing  hke  ghosts.  Tracy's 
first  step  was  to  send  a  strong  detachment  to  the 
RicheUeu  to  build  a  picket  fort  below  the  rapids 
of  Chambly,  which  take  their  name  from  that  of 
the  officer  in  command.  An  officer  named  Sorel 
soon  afterwards  built  a  second  fort  on  the  site  of 
the  abandoned  pahsade  work  built  by  Montmagny, 
at  the  mouth  of  the  river,  where  the  town  of  Sorel 
now  stands ;  and  Salieres,  colonel  of  the  regiment, 
added  a  tliird  fort,  two  or  three  leagues  above 
Chambly.^  These  forts  could  not  wholly  bar  the 
passage  against  the  nimble  and  wily  warriors  who 
might  pass  them  in  the  night,  shouldering  their 
canoes  through  the  woods.  A  blow,  direct  and 
hard,  was  needed,  and  Tracy  prepared  to  strike  it. 
Late  in  the  season  an  embassy  from  the  three 
upper  nations  —  the  Onondagas,  Cayugas,  and 
Senecas  —  arrived  at  Quebec,  led  by  Garacontie,  a 
famous  chief  whom  the  Jesuits  had  won  over,  and 
who  proved  ever  after  a  staunch  friend  of  the 
French.  They  brought  back  the  brave  Charles 
Le  Moyne  of  Montreal,  whom  they  had  captured 
some  three  months  before,  and  now  restored  as 
a  peace-offering,  taking  credit  to  themselves  that 
"  not  even  one  of  his  nails  had  been  torn  out,  nor 
any  part  of  his  body  burnt."  ^     Garacontie  made  a 


*  See  the  map  in  the  Relation  of  1665.  The  accompanying  text  of 
the  Relation  is  incorrect. 

2  Explanation  oj"  the  eleven  Presents  of  the  Iroquois  Ambassadors,  N.  Y 
Colonial  Docs.,  IX,  37. 


1665]  PACIFIC   OVERTURES.  185 

peace  speech,  which,  as  rendered  by  the  Jesuits, 
was  an  admirable  specimen  of  Iroquois  eloquence ; 
but,  while  joining  hands  with  him  and  his  com- 
panions, the  French  still  urged  on  their  prepara- 
tions to  chastise  the  contumacious  Mohawks. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

1666,  1667. 

THE    MOHAWKS    CHASTISED. 

Codrcelle's  March.  —  His  Failure  and  Return.  —  Courcell* 
AND  THE  Jesuits.  —  Mohawk  Treachery.  —  Tract's  Expedi- 
tion.—  Burning  of  the  Mohawk  Towns.  —  French  and  Eng- 
lish.    DOLLIER     DE     CaSSON     AT     St.     AnNE.   FeACE.  ThH 

Jesuits  and  the  Iroquois. 

The  governor,  Courcelle,  says  Father  Le  Mer- 
cier,  "  breathed  nothing  but  war,"  and  was  bent 
on  immediate  action.  He  was  for  the  present  sub- 
ordinate to  Tracj,  who,  however,  forebore  to  cool 
his  ardor,  and  allowed  him  to  proceed.  The  result 
was  an  enterprise  bold  to  rashness.  Courcelle, 
with  about  five  hundred  men,  prepared  to  march- 
in  the  depth  of  a  Canadian  winter  to  the  Mohawk 
towns,  a  distance  estimated  at  three  hundred 
leagues.  Those  who  knew  the  country,  vainly 
urged  the  risks  and  difficulties  of  the  attempt. 
The  adventurous  governor  held  fast  to  his  pur- 
pose, and  only  waited  till  the  St.  Lawrence  should 
be  well  frozen.  Early  in  January,  it  was  a  solid 
floor ;  and  on  the  ninth  the  march  began.  Officers 
and  men  stoj)ped  at  Sillery,  and  knelt  in  the 
little  mission  chapel  before   the  shrine    of   Saint 


16G6.]  COURCELLE'S   MAECH.  187 

Michael,  to  ask  the  protection  and  aid  of  the  war- 
like archangel;  then  they  resumed  their  course, 
and,  with  their  snow-shoes  tied  at  their  backs, 
walked  with  difficulty  and  toil  over  the  bare  and 
slippery  ice.  A  keen  wind  swept  the  river,  and 
the  fierce  cold  gnawed  them  to  the  bone.  Ears, 
noses,  fingers,  hands,  and  knees  were  frozen; 
some  fell  in  torpor,  and  were  dragged  on  by  their 
comrades  to  the  shivering  bivouac.  When,  after  a 
march  of  ninety  miles,  they  reached  Three  Rivers, 
a  considerable  number  were  disabled,  and  had  to 
be  left  behind ;  but  others  joined  them  from  the 
garrison,  and  they  set  out  again.  Ascending  th(j 
Richelieu,  and  passing  the  new  forts  at  Sorel  and 
Chambly,  they  reached  at  the  end  of  the  month 
the  third  fort,  called  Ste.  Therese.  On  the  thirtieth 
they  left  it,  and  continued  their  march  up  the 
frozen  stream.  About  two  hundred  of  them 
were  Canadians,  and  of  these  seventy  were  old 
Indian-fighters  from  Montreal,  versed  in  wood- 
craft, seasoned  to  the  climate,  and  trained  among 
dangers  and  alarms.  Courcelle  quickly  learned 
their  value,  and  his  "  Blue  Coats,"  as  he  called 
them,  were  always  placed  in  the  van.^  Here, 
wrapped  in  their  coarse  blue  cajDotes,  ^vitli  blank- 
ets and  provisions  strapped  at  their  backs,  they 
strode  along  on  snow-shoes,  which  recent  storms 
had  made  indispensable.  Tlie  regulars  followed 
as  they  could.  They  were  not  yet  the  tough  and 
experienced  woodsmen  that  they  and  their  de- 
scendants  afterwards   became ;    and   their    snow- 

'  Dollier  de  Casson,  Uistoire  du  Montreal,  a.d.  1GG5,  16G6. 


188  THE   MOHAWKS   CHASTISED.  [1668. 

shoes  embarrassed  them,  burdened  as  they  were 
with  the  heavy  loads  which  all  carried  alike,  from 
Courcelle  to  the  lowest  private. 

Lake  Champlain  lay  glaring  in  the  winter  sun, 
a  sheet  of  spotless  snow ;  and  the  wavy  ridges  of 
the  Adirondacks  bordered  the  dazzling  landscape 
with  the  cold  gray  of  their  denuded  forests.  The 
long  procession  of  weary  men  crept  slowly  on 
under  the  lee  of  the  shore ;  and  when  night  came 
they  bivouacked  by  squads  among  the  trees,  dug 
away  the  snow  with  their  snow-shoes,  piled  it  in  a 
bank  around  them,  built  their  fire  in  the  middle, 
and  crouched  about  it  on  beds  of  spruce  or  hem- 
lock ;  ^  while,  as  they  lay  close  packed  for  mutual 
warmth,  the  winter  sky  arched  them  Hke  a  vault 
of  burnished  steel,  sparkHng  with  the  cold  diamond 
lustre  of  its  myriads  of  stars.  This  arctic  serenity 
of  the  elements  was  varied  at  times  by  heavy 
snow-storms ;  and,  before  they  reached  their  jour- 
ney's end,  the  earth  and  the  ice  w^ere  buried  to  the 
unusual  depth  of  four  feet.  From  Lake  Cham- 
plain  they  passed  to  Lake  George,^  and  the  frigid 
glories  of  its  snow- wrapped  mountains ;  thence 
crossed  to  the  Hudson,  and  groped  their  way 
through  the  woods  in  search  of  the  Mohawk 
towns.  They  soon  went  astray  ;  for  thirty  Algon- 
quins,  whom  they  had  taken  as  guides,  had  found 

1  One  of  the  men,  telling  the  story  of  their  sufferings  to  Daniel  Goo- 
kin,  of  Massachusetts,  indicated  this  as  their  mode  of  encamping.  See 
Mass.  Hist.  Coll.,  first  series,  I.  161. 

2  Carte  des  grands  lacs,  Ontario  et  autres  .  .  ,  et  des  pays  traversez  par 
MM.  de  Tracy  et  Courcelle  pour  aller  attaquer  les  agni^s  {Mohawks), 
1666. 


1666.J  FAILURE  OF  COURCELLE.  189 

the  means  of  a  grand  debauch  at  Fort  Ste.  Th  erase, 
drunk  themselves  into  helplessness,  and  hngered 
behind.  Thus  Courcelle  and  his  men  mistook  the 
path,  and,  marcliing  by  way  of  Saratoga  Lake  and 
Long  Lake,^  found  themselves,  on  Saturday  the 
twentieth  of  February,  close  to  the  little  Dutch 
hamlet  of  Corlaer  or  Schenectady.  Here  the  chief 
man  in  authority  told  them  that  most  of  the 
Mohawks  and  Oneidas  had  gone  to  war  with  an- 
other tribe.  They,  however,  caught  a  few  strag- 
glers, and  had  a  smart  skirmish  with  a  party  of 
warriors,  losing  an  officer  and  several  men.  Half 
frozen  and  haK  starved,  they  encamped  in  the 
neighboring  woods,  where,  on  Sunday,  three  en- 
voys appeared  from  Albany,  to  demand  why  they 
had  invaded  the  territories  of  his  Roj^al  Highness 
the  Duke  of  York.  It  was  now  that  they  learned 
for  the  first  time  that  the  New  Netherlands  had 
passed  into  English  hands,  a  change  which  boded 
no  good  to  Canada.  The  envoys  seemed  to  take 
their  explanations  in  good  part,  made  them  a 
present  of  wine  and  provisions,  and  allowed  them 
to  buy  further  supplies  from  the  Dutch  of  Sche- 
nectady. They  even  invited  them  to  enter  the 
village,  but  Courcelle  declined,  partly  because  the 
place  could  not  hold  them  all,  and  partly  because 
he  feared  that  his  men,  once  seated  in  a  cliimney- 
corner,  coidd  never  be  induced  to  leave  it. 

Their  position  was  cheerless  enough;  for  the 
vast  beds  of  snow  around  them  were  soaking 
slowly  under  a  sullen  rain,  and  there  was  danger 

1  Carte  .  .  .  des  pays  traversez  par  MM.  de  Tracj/  et  Courcelle,  etc. 


lOU  THE   MOHAWKS   CHASTISED.  [1666. 

that  the  lakes  might  thaw  and  cut  off  their  retreat. 
"  Ye  Moliaukes,"  says  the  old  English  report  of  the 
affair,  "  were  all  gone  to  their  Castles  with  resolu- 
tion to  fight  it  out  against  the  french,  who,  being 
refresh t  and  supply ed  w"'  the  aforesaid  provisions, 
made  a  shew  of  marching  towards  the  Moliaukes 
Castles,  but  with  faces  about,  and  great  sylence  and 
dilligence,  return'd  towards  Cannada."  "  Surely," 
observes  the  narrator,  "  so  boidd  and  hardy  an 
attempt  hath  not  hapned  in  any  age."  ^  The  end 
hardly  answered  to  the  beginning.  The  retreat, 
which  began  on  Sunday  night,  was  rather  precipi- 
tate. The  Mohawks  hovered  about  their  rear,  and 
took  a  few  prisoners ;  but  famine  and  cold  proved 
more  deadly  foes,  and  sixty  men  perished  before 
they  reached  the  shelter  of  Fort  Ste.  Therese. 
On  the  eighth  of  March,  Courcelle  came  to  the 
neighboring  fort  of  St.  Louis  or  Chambly.  Here 
he  found  the  Jesuit  Albanel  acting  as  chaplain ; 
and,  being  in  great  ill  humor,  he  charged  him  with 
causing  the  failure  of  the  expedition  by  detaining 
the  Algonquin  guides.  This  singular  notion  took 
such  possession  of  him,  that,  when  a  few  days  after 
he  met  the  Jesuit  Freiiiin  at  Three  Rivers,  he  em- 
braced him  ironicall}',  saying,  at  the  same  time, 
"  My  father,  I  am  the  unluckiest  gentleman  in 
the  world  j  and  you,  and  the  rest  of  you,  are  the 
cause  of  it."  ^     The  pious  Tracy,  and  the  prudent 


*  A  RfiJation  of  the  Govern'',  of  Cannada,  his  March  with  600  Voluntein 
into  y'  Territon/es  of  His  Royall  Highnesse  the  Duke  ofYorke  in  America. 
8ee  Doc.  Hist." N.  Y.  I.  71. 

2  Journal  des  Je'siiites,  Ulars,  1666. 


1666.J  MOHAWK   TREACHERY.  191 

Talon,  tried  to  disarm  his  suspicions,  and  with  such 
success  that  he  gave  up  an  intention  he  had  enter- 
tained of  discarding  his  Jesuit  confessor,  and  foi'- 
got  or  forgave  the  imagined  wrong. 

Unfortunate  as  this  expedition  was,  it  produced 
a  strong  effect  on  the  Iroquois  by  convincing  them 
that  their  forest  homes  were  no  safe  asylum  from 
French  attacks.  In  May,  the  Senecas  sent  an 
embassy  of  peace  ;  and  the  other  nations,  including 
the  Mohawks,  soon  followed.  Trac}',  on  liis  part, 
sent  the  Jesuit  Bechefer  to  learn  on  the  spot  the 
real  temper  of  the  savages,  and  ascertain  whether 
peace  could  safely  be  made  with  them.  The  Jesuit 
was  scarcely  gone  when  news  came  that  a  party  of 
otiicers  hunting  near  the  outlet  of  Lake  Champlain 
had  been  set  upon  by  the  Mohawks,  and  that  seven 
of  them  had  been  captured  or  killed.  Among  the 
captured  was  Leroles,  a  cousin  of  Tracy,  and 
among  the  killed  was  a  young  gentleman  named 
Chasy,  his  nephew. 

On  tliis  the  Jesuit  envoy  was  recalled ;  twenty- 
four  Iroquois  deputies  were  seized  and  imprisoned  ; 
and  Sorel,  captain  in  the  regiment  of  Carignan,  was 
sent  with  three  hundred  men  to  chastise  the  per- 
lidious  Mohawks.  If,  as  it  seems,  he  was  expected 
to  attack  their  fortified  towns  or  "  castles,"  as  the 
English  call  them,  his  force  was  too  small.  This 
time,  however,  there  was  no  fighting.  At  two  days 
from  his  journey's  end,  Sorel  met  the  famous  chief 
called  the  Flemish  Bastard,  bringing  back  Leroles 
and  his  fellow-captives,  and  charged,  as  he  alleged, 
to  oFfer  fidl  satisfaction  for  the  murder  of  Chasj. 


192  THE   MOHAWKS   CHASTISED.  [16G6. 

Sorel  believed  him,  retraced  his  course,  and  with 
the  Bastard  in  his  train  returned  to  Quebec. 

Quebec  was  full  of  Iroquois  deputies,  all  bent  on 
peace  or  pretending  to  be  so.  On  the  last  day  of 
August,  there  was  a  grand  council  in  the  garden 
of  the  Jesuits.  Some  days  later,  Tracy  invited  the 
Flemish  Bastard  and  a  Mohawk  chief  named  Aga- 
riata  to  his  table,  when  allusion  was  made  to  the 
murder  of  Chasy.  On  this  the  Mohawk,  stretching 
out  his  arm,  exclaimed  in  a  braggart  tone,  "  This 
is  the  hand  that  split  the  head  of  that  young  man." 
The  indignation  of  the  company  may  be  imagined. 
Tracy  told  liis  insolent  guest  that  he  should  never 
kill  anybody  else  ;  and  he  was  led  out  and  hanged 
in  presence  of  the  Bastard.^  There  was  no  more 
talk  of  peace.  Tracy  prepared  to  march  in  person 
against  the  Mohawks  with  all  the  force  of  Canada. 

On  the  day  of  the  Exaltation  of  the  Cross, "  for 
whose  glory,"  says  the  chronicler,  "  this  expedi- 
tion is  undertaken,"  Tracy  and  Courcelle  left 
Quebec  with  thirteen  hundred  men.  They  crossed 
Lake  Champlain,  and  launched  their  boats  again  on 
the  waters  of  St.  Sacrament,  now  Lake  George. 
It  was  the  first  of  the  warlike  pageants  that  have 
made  that  fair  scene  historic.  October  had  begun, 
and  the  romantic  wilds  breathed  the  buoyant  life 
of  the  most  inspiring  of  American  seasons,  when 

1  This  story  rests  chiefly  on  the  autliority  of  Nicolas  Perrot,  Mceurs 
des  Saucages,  113.  La  Potlierie  also  tells  it,  with  the  addition  of  the  chief's 
name.  Golden  follows  him.  The  Journal  des  J^suites  mentions  that  the 
chief  who  led  the  murderers  of  Chasy  arrived  at  Quebec  on  the  sixth  of 
September.  Marie  de  I'lncarnation  mentions  the  hanging  of  an  Iroquois 
at  Quebec,  late  in  the  autumn,  for  violating  the  peace. 


1666.]  MARCH  OF  TRACY.  J  93 

the  blue-jay  screams  from  the  woods ;  the  wild 
duck  splashes  along  the  lake ;  and  the  echoes  of 
distant  mountains  prolong  the  quavering  cry  of 
the  loon  •  when  weather-stained  rocks  are  plumed 
with  the  fiery  crimson  of  the  sumac,  the  claret  hues 
of  young  oaks,  the  amber  and  scarlet  of  the  maple, 
and  the  sober  purple  of  the  ash ;  or  when  gleams 
of  sunlight,  shot  aslant  through  the  rents  of  cool 
autumnal  clouds,  chase  fitfully  along  the  glowing 
sides  of  painted  mountains.  Amid  this  gorgeous 
euthanasia  of  the  dying  season,  the  tliree  hundred 
boats  and  canoes  trailed  in  long  procession  up  the 
lake,  threaded  the  lab^ainth  of  the  Narrows,  that 
sylvan  fairy-land  of  tufted  islets  and  quiet  waters, 
and  landed  at  length  where  Fort  William  Henry 
was  afterwards  built. ^ 

About  a  hundred  miles  of  forests,  swamps,  rivers, 
and  mountains,  still  lay  between  them  and  the  Mo- 
hawk towns.  There  seems  to  have  been  an  Indian 
path ;  for  this  was  the  ordinary  route  of  the  Mo- 
hawk and  Oneida  war-parties  :  but  the  path  was 
narrow,  broken,  full  of  gullies  and  pitfalls,  crossed 
by  streams,  and  in  one  place  interrupted  by  a  lake 
which  they  passed  on  rafts.  A  hundred  and  ten 
"  Blue  Coats,"  of  Montreal,  led  the  way,  under 
Charles  Le  Moyne.  Repentigny  commanded  the 
levies  from  Quebec.  In  all  there  were  six  hundred 
Canadians  ;  six  hundred  regulars ;  and  a  hundred  In- 
dians from  the  missions,  who  ranged  the  woods  in 
front,  flank,  and  rear,  like  hounds  on  the  scent. 
Ked  or  white,  Canadians  or  regulars,  all  were  f  uU 

*  Carte  .  .  .  des  pays  traversez  par  MM.  de  Tracy  et  Courcelle,  etc. 

13 


194  THE   MOHAWKS   CHASTISED.  [Idfjb 

of  zeal.  "  It  seems  to  tliem,"  writes  Mother  Marj, 
"  that  they  are  going  to  lay  siege  to  Paradise,  and 
win  it  and  enter  in,  because  they  are  fighting  for 
religion  and  the  faith."  ^  Their  ardor  was  rudely 
tried.  Officers  as  well  as  men  carried  loads  at 
their  backs,  whence  ensued  a  large  blister  on  the 
shoulders  of  the  Chevalier  de  Chaumont,  in  no 
way  used  to  such  burdens.  Tracy,  old,  heavy,  and 
infirm,  was  inopportunely  seized  with  the  gout.  A 
Swiss  soldier  tried  to  carry  him  on  his  shoulders 
across  a  rapid  stream ;  but  midway  his  strength 
failed,  and  he  was  barely  able  to  deposit  his  pon- 
derous load  on  a  rock.  A  Huron  came  to  his 
aid,  and  bore  Tracy  safely  to  the  farther  bank. 
Courcelle  was  attacked  with  cramps,  and  had  to  be 
carried  for  a  time  like  his  commander.  Provisions 
gave  out,  and  men  and  officers  grew  faint  with 
hunger.  The  Montreal  soldiers  had  for  chaplain  a 
sturdy  priest,  DoUier  de  Casson,  as  large  as  Tracy 
and  far  stronger ;  for  the  incredible  story  is  told  of 
him  that,  when  in  good  condition,  he  coidd  hold 
two  men  seated  on  his  extended  hands.^  Now, 
however,  he  was  equal  to  no  such  exploit,  being 
not  onh^  deprived  of  food,  but  also  of  sleep,  by  the 
necessity  of  hstening  at  night  to  the  confessions  of 
his  pious  flock ;  and  his  shoes,  too,  had  failed  him, 
nothing  remaining  but  the  upper  leather,  which 
gave  him  little  comfort  among  the  sharp  stones. 
He  bore  up  manfully,  being  by  nature  brave  and 

*  Marie  de  I'lncarnation,  Lettre  du  16  Oct.,  1666. 

2  Grajdet,  Notice  manuscrite  sur  DoUier  de  Casson,  extract  given  by  J 
Viger  in  appendix  to  Hisloiredu  Montreal  (Montreal,  1868). 


1666.1  THE   MOHAWK  TOWNS.  195 

light-hearted ;  and,  when  a  servant  of  the  Jesuits 
fell  into  the  water,  he  threw  off  his  cassock  and 
leaped  after  him.  His  strength  gave  out,  and  the 
man  was  drowned ;  but  a  grateful  Jesuit  led  Imn 
aside  and  requited  his  efforts  with  a  morsel  of 
bread.^  A  wood  of  chestnut-trees  full  of  nuts  at 
length  stayed  the  hunger  of  the  famished  troops. 
It  was  Saint  Theresa's  day  when  they  approached 
the  lower  Mohawk  town.  A  storm  of  wind  and 
rain  set  in ;  but,  anxious  to  surprise  the  enemy, 
they  pushed  on  all  night  amid  the  moan  and  roar 
of  the  forest ;  over  slippery  logs,  tangled  roots,  and 
oozy  mosses ;  under  dripping  boughs  and  through 
saturated  bushes.  This  time  there  was  no  want  of 
good  guides ;  and  when  in  the  morning  they  issued 
from  the  forest,  they  saw,  amid  its  cornfields,  the 
palisades  of  the  Indian  stronghold.  They  had  two 
small  pieces  of  cannon  brought  from  the  lake  by 
relays  of  men,  but  they  did  not  stop  to  use  them. 
Their  twenty  drums  beat  the  charge,  and  they  ad- 
vanced to  seize  the  place  by  coup-de-main.  Lucidly 
for  them,  a  panic  had  seized  the  Indians.  Not  that 
they  were  taken  by  surprise,  for  they  had  discov- 
ered the  approacliing  French,  and,  two  days  before, 
had  sent  away  their  women  and  children  in  prep- 
aration for  a  desperate  fight;  but  the  din  of  the 
drums,  which  they  took  for  so  many  devils  in  the 
French  service  ;  and  the  armed  men  advancing  from 
the  rocks  and  thickets  in  files  that  seemed  inter- 
minable, —  so  wrought  on  the  scared  imagination  of 
tlie  warriors  that  they  fled  in  terror  to  their  next 

J  Dollier  de  Casson,  Histoire  du  Montreal,  a.d.  1G65,  1666. 


196  THE  MOHAWKS   CHASTISED.  [1066 

town,  a  short  distance  above.  Tracy  lost  no  time, 
but  hastened  in  pursuit.  A  few  Mohawks  Avere 
iseen  on  the  hills,  yelling  and  firing  too  far  for 
effect.  Repentigny,  at  the  risk  of  his  scalp,  climbed 
a  neighboring  height,  and  looked  down  on  the  little 
nrmy,  which  seemed  so  numerous  as  it  passed  be- 
neath, "  that,"  writes  the  superior  of  the  Ursuhnes, 
"  he  told  me  that  he  thought  the  good  angels  must 
have  joined  with  it ;  whereat  he  stood  amazed." 

The  second  town  or  fort  w^as  taken  as  easily  as 
the  first;  so,  too,  were  the  third  and  the  fourth. 
The  Indians  yelled,  and  fled  without  killing  a  man  ; 
and  still  the  troops  pursued,  following  the  broad 
trail  which  led  from  town  to  town  along  the  valley 
of  the  Mohawk.  It  was  late  in  the  afternoon  when 
the  fourth  town  was  entered,^  and  Tracy  thought 
that  his  work  was  done  ;  but  an  Algonquin  squaw 
who  had  followed  her  husband  to  the  war,  and  who 
had  once  been  a  prisoner  among  the  Mohawks,  told 
him  that  there  was  still  another  above.  The  sun 
was  near  its  setting,  and  the  men  were  tired  "with 
their  pitiless  marching ;  but  again  the  order  was 
given  to  advance.  The  eager  squaw  showed  the 
wa}^  holding  a  pistol  in  one  hand  and  leading 
Courcelle  with  the  other ;  and  they  soon  came  in 
sight  of  Andaraque,  the  largest  and  strongest  of 
the  Mohawk  forts.  The  drums  beat  with  fury,  and 
the  troops  prepared  to  attack,  but  there  were  none 
to  oppose  them.     The  scouts  sent  forward,  reported 

•  Marie  de  I'lncamation  says  that  there  were  four  towns  in  all  I 
follow  the  Acte  de  prise  de  possession,  made  on  the  spot.  Five  are  here 
mentioned. 


1666]  VICTORY.  197 

that  the  warriors  had  fled.  The  last  of  the  savage 
strouo-liolds  was  in  the  hands  of  the  French. 

"  God  has  done  for  us,"  says  Mother  Mary,  "  what 
he  did  in  ancient  days  for  his  chosen  people,  strik- 
ing terror  into  our  enemies,  insomuch  that  we  were 
victors  without  a  blow.  Certain  it  is  that  there  is 
miracle  in  all  this ;  for,  if  the  Iroquois  had  stood 
fast,  they  would  have  given  us  a  great  deal  of 
trouble  and  caused  our  army  great  loss,  seeing  how 
they  were  fortified  and  armed,  and  how  haughty 
and  bold  they  are." 

The  French  were  astonished  as  they  looked  about 
them.  These  Iroquois  forts  were  very  different 
from  those  that  Jogues  had  seen  here  twenty  years 
before,  or  from  that  which  in  earlier  times  set 
Champlain  and  his  Hurons  at  defiance.  The  Mo- 
hawks had  had  counsel  and  aid  from  their  Dutch 
friends,  and  ada|)ted  their  savage  defences  to  the 
rides  of  European  art.  Andaraqu^  was  a  quad- 
rangle formed  of  a  triple  palisade,  twenty  feet  high, 
and  flanked  by  four  bastions.  Large  vessels  of 
bark  filled  with  water  were  placed  on  the  plat- 
forms of  the  palisade  for  defence  against  fire.  The 
dwellings  which  these  fortifications  enclosed  were 
in  many  cases  built  of  wood,  though  the  form  and 
arrangement  of  the  primitive  bark  lodge  of  the 
Iroquois  seems  to  have  been  preserved.  Some  of 
the  wooden  houses  were  a  hundred  and  twenty 
feet  long,  with  fires  for  eight  or  nine  famihes. 
Here  and  in  subterranean  caches  was  stored  a  pro- 
digious quantity  of  Indian-corn  and  other  provi- 
sions;   and  all  the  dwellings  were  supphed  with 


198  THE  MOHAWKS  oHASTISED.  [1666 

carpenters'  tools,  domestic  utensils,  and  many  other 
appliances  of  comfort. 

The  only  living  things  in  Andaraque,  when  the 
French  entered,  were  two  old  women,  a  small  boy. 
and  a  decrepit  old  man,  who,  being  frightened  by 
the  noise  of  the  drums,  had  hidden  himself  under 
a  canoe.  From  them  the  victors  learned  that  the 
Mohawks,  retreating  from  the  other  towns,  had 
gathered  here,  resolved  to  fight  to  the  last;  but  at 
sight  of  the  troops  their  courage  failed,  and  the 
chief  was  first  to  run,  crying  out,  "  Let  us  save 
ourselves,  brothers;  the  whole  world  is  coming 
against  us." 

A  cross  was  planted,  and  at  its  side  the  royal 
arms.  The  troops  were  dra^vn  up  in  battle  array, 
when  Jean  Baptiste  du  Bois,  an  officer  deputed  by 
Tracy,  advancing  sword  in  hand  to  the  front,  pro^ 
claimed  in  a  loud  voice  that  he  took  possession  in 
the  name  of  the  king  of  all  the  country  of  the 
Mohawks;  and  the  troops  shouted  three  times, 
Vive  le  Hoi} 

That  night  a  mighty  bonfire  illumined  the  ]\Io- 
hawk  forests ;  and  the  scared  savages  from  their  hid- 
ing-places among  the  rocks  saw  their  palisades,  their 
dwelhngs,  their  stores  of  food,  and  all  their  posses- 
sions, turned  to  cinders  and  ashes.  The  two  old 
squaws  captured  in  the  town,  threw  themselves  in 
despair  mto  the  flames  of  their  blazing  homes. 
When  morning  came,  there  was  nothing  left  of 
Andaraque  but  smouldering  embers,  rolhng  their 
pale  smoke  against  the  painted  background  of  the 

1  Acte  de  prise  de  possession,  17  Oct.,  1666. 


Wm.\  ENGLISH  JEALOUSY.  199 

October  woods.  Te  Deicm  was  sung  and  mass  said ; 
and  then  the  victors  began  their  backward  march, 
b  urning,  as  the j  went,  all  the  remaining  forts,  with 
all  their  hoarded  stores  of  corn,  except  such  as  they 
needed  for  themselves.  If  they  had  failed  to  destroy 
their  enemies  in  battle,  they  hoped  that  winter 
and  famine  woidd  do  the  work  of  shot  and  steel. 

While  there  was  distress  among  the  Mohawks, 
there  was  trouble  among  their  English  neighbors, 
who  claimed  as  their  own  the  country  which  Tracy 
had  invaded.      The  Enoiish  authorities  were  thev 

O  1 

more  disquieted,  because  they  feared  that  the  lately 
conquered  Dutch  might  join  hands  with  the  French 
against  them.  When  Nicolls,  governor  of  Ne\\\ 
York,  heard  of  Tracy's  advance,  he  wrote  to  the 
governors  of  the  New  England  colonies,  begging 
them  to  join  him  against  the  French  invaders,  and 
urging  that,  if  Tracy's  force  were  destroyed  or  cap-  / 
tured,  the  conquest  of  Canada  Avould  be  an  easy  / 
task.  There  Avas  war  at  the  time  between  the  two 
crowns ;  and  the  British  court  had  already  enter- 
tained this  project  of  conquest,  and  sent  orders  to 
its  colonies  to  that  effect.  But  the  New  England 
governors,  ill  prepared  for  war,  and  fearing  that 
their  Indian  neighbors,  who  were  enemies  of  the 
Mohawks,  might  take  part  with  the  French,  hesi- 
tated to  act,  and  the  affair  ended  in  a  correspond- 
ence, civil  if  not  sincere,  between  Nicolls  and  Tracy.' 
The  treat}^  of  Breda,  in  the  following  year,  t:ecured 
peace  for  a  time  between  the  rival  colonies. 

^  See  the  correspondence  in  N.  Y.  Col.  Docs.  IH.  118-15G.  Conip are 
Hutchinson  Collection,  407,  and  Mass.  Hist.  Coll.  XVIIL  102. 


200  THE   MOHAWKS   CHASTISED.  [1G66- 

The  return  of  Tracy  was  less  fortunate  than  his 
advance.  The  rivers,  swollen  by  autumn  rains, 
were  difficult  to  pass ;  and  in  crossing  Lake  Cham- 
plain  two  canoes  were  overset  in  a  storm,  and 
eight  men  were  drowned.  From  St.  Anne,  a  new 
fort  built  early  in  the  summer  on  Isle  La  Motte, 
near  the  northern  end  of  the  lake,  he  sent  news  of 
his  success  to  Quebec,  where  there  was  great  re- 
joicing and  a  solemn  thanksgiving.  Signs  and 
prodigies  had  not  been  wanting  to  attest  the  inter- 
est of  the  upper  and  nether  powers  in  the  crusade 
against  the  myrmidons  of  heU.  At  one  of  the  forts 
on  the  Eichelieu,  "  the  soldiers,"  says  Mother  Mary, 
"  were  near  dying  of  fright.  They  saw  a  great 
fiery  cavern  in  the  sky,  and  from  this  cavern  came 
pLaintive  voices  mixed  with  frightful  bowlings. 
Perhaps  it  was  the  demons,  enraged  because  we 
had  depopulated  a  country  where  they  had  been 
masters  so  long,  and  had  said  mass  and  sung  the 
praises  of  God  in  a  place  where  there  had  never 
before  been  any  thing  but  foulness  and  abomina- 
tion." 

Tracy  had  at  first  meant  to  abandon  Fort  St. 
Anne ;  but  he  changed  his  mind  after  returning  to 
Quebec.  Meanwhile  the  season  had  grown  so  late 
tliat  there  was  no  time  to  send  proper  supplies  to 
the  garrison.  Winter  closed,  and  the  place  was 
not  only  ill  provisioned,  but  was  left  without  a 
priest.  Tracy  wrote  to  the  superior  of  the  Sulpi- 
tians  at  Montreal  to  send  one  without  delay ;  but 
the  request  was  more  easily  made  than  fulfilled, 
for  he  forgot  to  order  an  escort,  and  the  way  was 


1666.]  THE   CUR6   OF   ST.   ANNE.  201 

long  and  dangerous.  The  stout-liearted  Dollier  de 
Casson  was  told,  however,  to  hold  himself  read}' 
to  go  at  the  first  opportunity.  His  recent  cam- 
paigning had  left  him  in  no  condition  for  braving 
fresh  hardships,  for  he  was  nearly  disabled  by  a 
swelling  on  one  of  his  knees.  By  way  of  cure  he 
resolved  to  try  a  severe  bleeding,  and  the  Sangrado 
of  Montreal  did  his  work  so  thoroughly  that  his 
patient  fainted  under  his  hands.  As  he  returned 
to  consciousness,  he  became  aware  that  two  sol- 
diers had  entered  the  room.  They  told  him  tha< 
they  were  going  in  the  morning  to  Chambly, 
which  was  on  the  way  to  St.  Anne ;  and  they 
invited  him  to  go  with  them.  "  Wait  till  the  da_y 
after  to-morrow,"  replied  the  priest,  "  and  I  will 
try."  The  delay  was  obtained ;  and,  on  the  day 
fixed,  the  party  set  out  by  the  forest  path  to 
Chambly,  a  distance  of  about  four  leagues. 
When  they  reached  it,  Dollier  de  Casson  was 
nearly  spent,  but  he  concealed  his  plight  from  the 
commanding  officer,  and  begged  an  escort  to  St. 
Anne,  some  twenty  leagues  farther.  As  the  officer 
would  not  give  him  one,  he  threatened  to  go  alone, 
on  which  ten  men  and  an  ensign  were  at  last 
ordered  to  conduct  hun.  Thus  attended,  he  re- 
sumed his  journey  after  a  day's  rest.  One  of  the 
soldiers  fell  through  the  ice,  and  none  of  his  com- 
rades dared  help  him.  Dollier  de  Casson,  making 
the  sign  of  the  cross,  went  to  his  aid,  and,  more 
successful  than  on  the  former  occasion,  caught  him 
and  pulled  him  out.  The  snow  was  deep;  and  the 
priest,  having  arrived  in  the   preceding  summer. 


202  THE  MOHAWKS   CHASTISED.  fl6G0. 

had  never  before  worn  snow-slioes,  while  a  sack  of 
clothing,  and  his  portable  chapel  which  he  carried 
at  his  back,  joined  to  the  pain  of  his  knee  and  the 
effects  of  his  late  bleeding,  made  the  march  a  pur- 
gatory. 

He  was  sorely  needed  at  Fort  St.  Anne.  There 
was  pestilence  in  the  garrison.  Two  men  had  just 
died  without  absolution,  while  more  were  at  the 
point  of  death,  and  praying  for  a  priest.  Thus  it 
happened  that  when  the  sentinel  descried  far  off, 
on  the  ice  of  Lake  Champlain,  a  squad  of  soldiers 
approaching,  and  among  them  a  black  cassock, 
every  officer  and  man  not  sick,  or  on  dut}^,  came 
out  with  one  accord  to  meet  the  new-comer. 
They  overwhelmed  him  with  welcome  and  with 
thanks.  One  took  his  sack,  another  his  portable 
chajDcl,  and  they  led  him  in  triumph  to  the  fort. 
First  he  made  a  short  prayer,  then  went  his  rounds 
among  the  sick,  and  then  came  to  refresh  himself 
with  the  officers.  Here  was  La  Motte  de  la  Luciere, 
the  commandant ;  La  Durantaye,  a  name  destined 
to  be  famous  in  Canadian  annals ;  and  a  number  of 
young  subalterns.  The  scene  was  no  strange  one 
to  DoUier  de  Casson,  for  he  had  been  an  officer  of 
cavalry  in  his  time,  and  fought  under  Turenne  ; ' 
a  good  soldier,  without  doubt,  at  the  mess  table  or 
in  the  field,  and  none  the  worse  a  priest  that  he 
had  once  followed  the  w^ars.  He  was  of  a  lively 
humor,  given  to  jests  and  mirth  ;  as  pleasant  a 
father  as  ever  said  Benedicite.     The  soldier  and 

1  Grandet,  Notice  manuscrite  sur  DolUer  de  Casson,  extracts  from  cojij 
in  possession  of  the  late  Jacques  Viger. 


1666.]  THE   CUR£  OF  ST.  AKNE.  203 

the  gentleman  still  lived  under  the  cassock  of  the 
priest.  He  was  greatly  respected  and  beloved  ; 
and  his  influence  as  a  peace-maker,  which  he  often 
had  occasion  to  exercise,  is  said  to  have  been 
remarkable.  When  the  time  demanded  it,  he 
could  use  arguments  more  cogent  than  those  of 
moral  suasion.  Once,  in  a  camp  of  Algonquins, 
when,  as  he  was  kneeling  in  prayer,  an  insolent 
savage  came  to  interrupt  him,  the  father,  without 
rising,  knocked  the  intruder  flat  by  a  blow  of  his 
fist,  and  the  other  Indians,  far  from  being  dis- 
pleased, were  filled  with  admiration  at  the  ex- 
ploit.i 

His  cheery  temper  now  stood  him  in  good  stead ; 
for  there  was  dreary  work  before  him,  and  he  was 
not  the  man  to  flinch  from  it.  The  garrison  of 
St.  Anne  had  nothing  to  live  on  but  salt  pork  and 
half-spoiled  flour.  Their  hogshead  of  vinegar  had 
sprung  aleak,  and  the  contents  had  all  oozed  out. 
They  had  rejoiced  in  the  supposed  possession  of  a 
reasonable  stock  of  brandy;  but  they  soon  dis- 
covered that  the  sailors,  on  the  voyage  from 
France,  had  emptied  the  casks  and  filled  them 
again  with  salt-water.  The  scurvy  broke  out  with 
fury.  In  a  short  time,  forty  out  of  the  sixty  men 
became  victims  of  the  loathsome  malady.  Day  or 
night,  Dollier  de  Casson  and  Forestier,  the  equally 
devoted  young  surgeon,  had  no  rest.  The  sur- 
geon's strength  failed,  and  the  priest  was  himself 
sHghtly  attacked  with  the  disease.     Eleven  men 

1  Grandet,  Notice  manuscrite  sui  Dollier  de  Casson,  cited  by  Faillon,  Col 
mie  Fran<;aise,  III.  395,  396. 


204  THE   MOHAWKS   CHASTISED.  [1666-67 

died ;  and  others  languished  for  want  of  help,  for 
their  comrades  shrank  from  entering  the  infected 
dens  where  thej  laj.  In  their  extremity  some  of 
tliem  devised  an  ingenious  expedient.  Thoug? 
they  had  nothing  to  bequeath,  they  made  A\alls  in 
which  they  left  imaginary  sums  of  money  to  those 
who  had  befriended  them,  and  thenceforth  they 
found  no  lack  of  nursing. 

In  the  intervals  of  his  labors,  DolHer  de  Casson 
would  run  to  and  fro  for  warmth  and  exercise  on 
a  certain  track  of  beaten  snow,  between,  two  of  the 
bastions,  reciting  his  breviary  as  he  went,  so  that 
those  who  saw  him  might  have  thought  him  out  of 
his  wits.  One  day  La  Motte  called  out  to  him  as 
he  was  thus  engaged,  "  Eh,  Monsieur  le  cure,  if 
the  Iroquois  should  come,  you  must  defend  that 
bastion.  My  men  are  all  deserting  me,  and  going 
over  to  you  and  the  doctor."  To  which  the  father 
replied,  "  Get  me  some  litters  with  wheels,  and  I 
^vill  bring  them  out  to  man  my  bastion.  They 
are  brave  enough  now ;  no  fear  of  their  running 
away."  With  banter  like  this,  they  sought  to 
beguile  their  miseries ;  and  thus  the  winter  wore 
on  at  Fort  St.  Anne.^ 

Early  in  spring  they  saw  a  troop  of  Iroquois 
approaching,  and  prepared  as  well  as  they  could  to 
make  fight ;  but  the  strangers  proved  to  be  ambas- 

1  The  above  curious  incidents  are  told  by  Dollier  de  Casson,  in  his 
Histoire  du  Montreal,  preserved  in  manuscript  in  the  Mazarin  Library  at 
Paris.  He  gives  no  hint  that  the  person  in  question  vva?  himself,  but 
speaks  of  him  as  un  eccle'siastique.  His  identity  is,  however,  made  certain 
by  internal  evidence,  by  a  passage  in  the  Notice  of  Grandet,  and  by  other 
contemjiorary  allusions. 


1667.]  JESUITS  AND   IROQUOIS.  205 

sadors  of  peace.  The  destruction  of  the  Mohawk 
towns  had  produced  a  deep  effect,  not  on  that 
nation  alone,  but  also  on  the  other  four  members 
of  the  league.  They  were  disposed  to  confirm  the 
promises  of  peace  which  they  had  already  made ; 
and  Tracy  had  spurred  their  good  intentions  by 
sending  them  a  message  that,  unless  they  quickly- 
presented  themselves  at  Quebec,  he  would  hang  all 
the  cliiefs  whom  he  had  kept  prisoners  after  dis- 
covering their  treachery  in  the  preceding  summer. 
The  threat  had  its  effect :  deputies  of  the  Oneidas, 
Onondagas,  Cayugas,  and  Senecas  presently  arrived 
in  a  temper  of  befitting  humility.  The  Mohawks 
were  at  first  afraid  to  come  :  but  in  April  they  sent 
the  Flemish  Bastard  with  overtures  of  peace ;  and 
in  July,  a  large  deputation  of  their  cliiefs  appeared 
at  Quebec.  They  and  the  rest  left  some  of  their 
families  as  hostages,  and  promised  that,  if  any  of 
their  people  should  kill  a  Frenchman,  they  would 
give  them  up  to  be  hanged.' 

They  begged,  too,  for  blacksmiths,  surgeons, 
and  Jesuits  to  live  among  them.  The  presence 
of  the  Jesuits  in  their  towns  was  in  many  ways  an 
advantage  to  them ;  while  to  the  colony  it  was  of 
the  greatest  importance.  Not  only  was  conversion 
to  the  church  justly  regarded  as  the  best  means  of 
attaching  the  Indians  to  the  French,  and  alienating 
them  from  the  English;  but  the  Jesuits  living  in 
the  midst  of  them  could  influence  even  thuse  whom 
they  could   not  convert,  soothe  rising  jealousies, 

1  Lettre  du  Pere  Jean  Pierron,  de  la  Compagnie  de  J^sus,  excripte  dc  ia 
Moite  (Fort  Ste.  Atine)  sur  le  lac  Champlain,  le  12mc  d'aun^l,  10G7 


206  THE  MOHAWKS   CHASTISED.  [1667. 

counteract  English  intrigues,  and  keep  the  rulers 
of  the  colony  informed  of  all  that  was  passing  in 
the  Iroquois  towns.  Thus,  half  Christian  missiona- 
ries, half  political  agents,  the  Jesuits  prepared  to 
resume  the  hazardous  mission  of  the  Iroquois. 
Fremin  and  Pierron  were  ordered  to  the  Mohawks, 
Bruyas  to  the  Oneidas,  and  three  others  were  named 
for  the  remaining  three  nations  of  the  league.  The 
'  troops  had  made  the  peace ;  the  Jesuits  were  the 
/(rivets  to  hold  it  fast;  and  peace  endured  without 
absolute  rupture  for  nearly  twenty  years.  Of  all 
the  French  expeditions  against  the  Iroquois,  that 
of  Tracy  was  the  most  productive  of  good. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

1665-1672. 

PATERNAL   GOVERNMENT. 

Talon.  —  Restriction   and   MoNOroLY.  —  Views   of    Colbebt. — 
Political  Galvanism.  —  A  Father  op  the  Peoflb 

Tracy's  work  was  done,  and  he  left  Canada  with 
the  glittering  noblesse  in  lii.s  train.  Courcelle  and 
Talon  remained  to  rule  alone ;  and  now  the  great'] 
experiment  was  begun.  Paternal  roj^alty  woidd 
try  its  hand  at  building  up  a  colony,  and  Talon 
was  its  chosen  agent.  His  appearance  did  him  no 
justice.  The  regular  contour  of  his  oval  face,  about 
which  fell  to  his  shoulders  a  cataract  of  curls,  natu- 
ral or  supposititious ;  the  smooth  lines  of  his  well- 
formed  features,  brows  delicately  arched,  and  a 
mouth  more  suggestive  of  feminine  sensibility  than 
of  masculine  force,  —  would  certainly  have  misled 
the  disciple  of  Lavater.^  Yet  there  was  no  want  of 
manhood  in  him.  He  was  most  happily  chosen 
for  the  task  placed  in  his  hands,  and  from  first  to 
last  approved  himself  a  vigorous  executive  officer. 
He  was  a  true  disciple  of  Colbert,  formed  in  his 
school  and  animated  by  his  spirit. 

'  His  portrait  is  at  tl\e  Hotel  Dieu  of  Quebec.     An  engraving  from  it 
will  be  found  :n  tlie  tliinl  volume  of  Shea's  Charlevoix. 


208  PATERNAL   GOVERNMENT.  IIGG-Wii. 

Being  on  the  spot,  he  was  better  able  than  his 
master  to  judge  the  working  ol  the  new  order  of 
things.  With  regard  to  the  company,  he  writes 
that  it  will  profit  by  impoverishing  the  colony ; 
that  its  monopolies  dishearten  the  people  and  par- 
alyze enterprise  ,  that  it  is  thwarting  the  intentions 
of  the  king,  who  wishes  trade  to  be  encouraged ; 
and  that,  if  its  exclusive  privileges  are  maintained, 
Canada  in  ten  years  will  be  less  populous  than 
now.^  But  Colbert  clung  to  his  plan,  though  he 
wrote  in  reply  that  to  satisfy  the  colonists  he  had 
persuaded  the  company  to  forego  the  monopolies 
for  a  year."  As  this  proved  insufhcient,  the  com 
pany  was  at  length  forced  to  give  up  permanently 
its  right  of  exclusive  trade,  still  exacting  its  share 
of  beaver  and  moose  skins.  This  was  its  chief 
source  of  profit ;  it  begrudged  every  sou  deducted 
from  it  for  charges  of  government,  and  the  king 
was  constant!}^  obliged  to  do  at  his  own  cost  that 
which  the  company  should  have  done.  In  one 
point  it  showed  a  ceaseless  activity ;  and  this  was 
the  levying  of  duties,  in  which  it  was  never  known 
to  fail. 

Trade,  even  after  its  exercise  was  permitted, 
was  continually  vexed  by  the  hand  of  authority. 
One  of  Tracy's  first  measures  had  been  to  issue  a 
decree  reducing  the  price  of  wheat  one  half.  The 
council  took  up  the  work  of  regulation,  and  fixed 
the  price  of  all  imported,  goods  in  three  several 
tariffs,  —  one  for  Quebec,  one  for  Three  Rivers,  and 

I  Talon  a  Colbert,  4  Oct.,  1665. 
•i  Colbert  a  Talon,  5  Avril,  1666. 


1665-72.1        COLBERT'S  INSTRUCTIONS.  209 

one  for  Montreal/  It  may  Avell  be  believed  that 
there  was  in  Canada  little  capital  and  little  enter- 
prise. Industrially  and  commercially,  the  colony 
was  almost  dead.  Talon  set  himself  to  galvanize 
it;  and,  if  one  man  could  have  supplied  the  intelli- 
gence and  energy  of  a  whole  community,  the  results 
would  have  been  triumphant. 

He  had  received  elaborate  instructions,  and  they 
indicate  an  ardent  wish  for  the  prosperity  of  Canada. 
Colbert  had  written  to  him  that  the  true  means  to 
strengthen  the  colony  was  to  "  cause  justice  to  reign, 
establish  a  good  police,  protect  the  inhabitants, 
discipline  them  against  enemies,  and  procure  for 
them  peace,  repose,  and  plenty."  -  "  And  as,"  the 
minister  further  says,  "  the  king  regards  his  Cana- 
dian subjects,  from  the  highest  to  the  lowest,  almost 
as  his  own  children,  and  wishes  them  to  enjoy 
equally  with  the  people  of  France  the  mildness  and 
happiness  of  his  reign,  the  Sieur  Talon  will  study 
to  solace  them  in  all  thing's  and  encoura2:e  them  to 
trade  and  industry.  And,  seeing  that  nothing  can 
better  promote  this  end  than  entering  into  the 
details  of  their  households  and  of  all  their  little 
affairs,  it  will  not  be  amiss  that  he  visit  all  their 
settlements  one  after  the  other  in  order  to  learn 
their  true  condition,  provide  as  much  as  possi- 
ble for  their  wants,  and,  j)erforming  the  duty  of  a 
good  head  of  a  family,  put  them  in  the  way  of 
making  some  profit."  The  intendant  was  also  told 
to  encourage  fathers  to  inspire  their  children  with 

»  Tariff  of  Prices,  in  N.  Y.  Colonial  Docs.  IX.  36 
2   Colbert  a  Tulon,  5  Avril,  1GG6. 
14 


210  PATERNAL   GOVERNMENT.  [1665-72 

piety,  together  with  "  profound  love  and  respect 
for  the  royal  person  of  his  Majesty."  ^ 

Talon  entered  on  his  work  mth  admirable  zeal. 
Sometimes  he  used  authority,  sometimes  persuasion, 
sometimes  promises  of  reward.  Sometimes,  again, 
he  tried  the  force  of  example.  Thus  he  built  a 
ship  to  show  the  people  how  to  do  it,  and  rouse 
them  to  imitation.^  Three  or  four  years  later,  the 
experiment  w\as  repeated.  This  time  it  was  at  the 
cost  of  the  king,  who  applied  the  sum  of  forty  thou- 
sand livres^  to  the  double  purpose  of  promoting 
the  art  of  ship-building,  and  saving  the  colonists 
from  vagrant  habits  by  giving  them  employment. 
Talon  wrote  that  three  hundred  and  fifty  men  had 
been  supplied  that  summer  with  work  at  the  charge 
of  government.^ 

He  despatched  two  engineers  to  search  for  coal, 
lead,  iron,  copper,  and  other  minerals.  Important 
discoveries  of  iron  were  made ;  but  three  genera- 
tions were  destined  to  pass  before  the  mines  were 
successfully  worked.^  The  copper  of  Lake  Supe- 
rior raised  the  intendant's  hopes  for  a  time,  but  he 
was  soon  forced  to  the  conclusion  that  it  was  too 
remote  to  be  of  practical  value.  He  labored  vig- 
orously to  develop  arts  and  manufactures ;  made 
a  barrel  of  tar,  and  sent  it  to  the  king  as  a  speci- 
men ;  caused  some  of  the  colonists  to  make  cloth 

1  Instruction  an  Sieur  Talon,  27  Mors,  1665. 

2  Talon  a  Colbert,  Oct.,  1667;    Colbert  a  Talon,  20  Fev.,  1668. 

3  D^peche  de  Colbert,  11  Fev.,  1671. 

*  Talon  a  Colbert,  2  Nov.,  1671. 

*  Charlevoix  speaks  of  tliese  mines  as  having  been  forgotten  for 
Beventj'  years,  and  rediscovered  in  his  time.  After  passing  through 
various  lian  Is,  they  were  finally  worked  on  the  king's  account. 


1665-72.]  ACTIVITY   OF   TALON.  211 

of  the  wool  of  the  sheep  which  the  king  had  sent 
out ;  encouraged  others  to  estabhsh  a  tannery,  and 
also  a  factory  of  hats  and  of  shoes.  The  Sieur 
Follin  was  induced  by  the  grant  of  a  monopoly  to 
begin  the  making  of  soap  and  potash.^  The  people 
were  ordered  to  grow  hemp,^  and  urged  to  gather 
the  nettles  of  the  country  as  material  for  cordage ; 
and  the  Ursulines  were  supplied  with  flax  and  wool, 
in  order  that  they  might  teach  girls  to  weave  and 
spin. 

Talon  was  especially  anxious  to  establish  trade 
between  Canada  and  the  West  Indies ;  and,  to  make 
a  beginning,  he  freighted  the  vessel  he  had  built 
Avith  salted  cod,  salmon,  eels,  pease,  fish-oil.  staves, 
and  planks,  and  sent  her  thither  to  exchange  her 
cargo  for  sugar,  which  she  was  in  turn  to  ex- 
change in  France  for  goods  suited  for  the  Canadian 
market.^  Another  favorite  object  with  him  was 
the  fishery  of  seals  and  white  porpoises  for  the 
sake  of  their  oil ;  and  some  of  the  chief  merchants 
were  urged  to  undertake  it,  as  well  as  the  estab- 
lishment of  stationary  cod-fisheries  along  the  Lower 
St.  Lawrence.  But,  with  every  encouragement, 
many  years  passed  before  this  valuable  industry 
was  placed  on  a  firm  basis. 

Talon  saw  with  concern  the  huge  consumption 
of  wine  and  brandy  among  the  settlers,  costing 
them,  as  he  wrote  to  Colbert,  a  hundred  thousand 
livres  a  year;    and,  to  keep  this  money  in  the 

1  R^gistre  dit  Conxeil  Souverain. 

"  Marie  de  I'lncarnation,  Choix  des  Lettres  de  871. 

3  Le  Mercier,  Rel.  1G67,  3 ;  D(?peches  de  Talon 


212  PATERNAL  GOVERNMENT.  [1665-72 

colony,  he  declared  his  intention  of  building  a 
brewery.  The  minister  approved  the  plan,  not 
only  on  economic  grounds,  but  because  "  the  vice 
of  drunkenness  would  thereafter  cause  no  more 
scandal  by  reason  of  the  cold  nature  of  beer,  the 
vapors  whereof  rarely  deprive  men  of  the  use 
of  judgment."  ^  The  brewery  was  accordingly 
built,  to  the  great  satisfaction  of  the  poorer  colo- 
nists. 

Nor  did  the  active  intendant  fail  to  acquit  him- 
self of  the  duty  of  domiciliary  visits,  enjoined 
upon  liim  by  the  royal  instructions ;  a  j)oint  on 
which  he  was  of  one  mind  with  his  superiors,  for 
he  writes  that  "  those  charged  in  this  country  with 
his  Majesty's  affairs  are  under  a  strict  obligation 
to  enter  into  the  detail  of  families."  ^  Accordingly 
we  learn  from  Mother  Juchereau,  that  "  he  studied 
with  the  affection  of  a  father  how  to  succor  the 
poor  and  cause  the  colony  to  grow ;  entered  into 
the  minutest  particulars ;  visited  the  houses  of  the 
inhabitants,  and  caused  them  to  visit  him ;  learned 
what  crops  each  one  was  raising ;  taught  those 
who  had  wheat  to  sell  it  at  a  profit,  helped  those 
who  had  none,  and  encouraged  everybody."  And 
Dollier  de  Casson  represents  him  as  visiting  in 
turn  every  house  at  Montreal,  and  giving  aid  from 
the  king  to  such  as  needed  it.^  Horses,  cattle, 
sheep,  and  other  domestic  animals,  were  sent  out 
at  the  royal  charge  in  considerable  numbers,  and 

1  Colbert  a  Talon,  20  Fev.,  1668. 

2  M€moire  de  1667. 

3  Eistoire  du  Montreal,  a.d.  1666,  1667. 


166&-72.]  POLICY  OF  TALON.  213 

distributed  gratuitously,  with  an  order  that  none 
of  the  young  should  be  killed  till  the  country  was 
sufficiently  stocked.  Large  quantities  of  goods 
were  also  sent  from  the  same  high  quarter.  Some 
of  these  were  distributed  as  gifts,  and  the  rest 
bartered  for  corn  to  supply  the  troops.  As  the 
intendant  perceived  that  the  farmers  lost  much 
time  in  coming  from  their  distant  clearings  to  buy 
necessaries  at  Quebec,  he  caused  his  agents  to 
furnish  them  w^ith  the  king's  goods  at  their  own 
houses,  to  the  great  annoyance  of  the  merchants 
of  Quebec,  who  complained  that  their  accustomed 
trade  was  thus  forestalled.^ 

These  were  not  the  only  cares  which  occupied 
the  mind  of  Talon.  He  tried  to  open  a  road 
across  the  country  to  Acadia,  an  ahnost  impossible 
task,  in  which  he  and  his  successors  completely 
failed.  Under  his  auspices,  Albanel  penetrated  to 
Hudson's  Bay,  and  Saint  Lusson  took  possession  in 
the  king's  name  of  the  country  of  the  Upper 
Lakes.  It  was  Talon,  in  short,  who  prepared  the 
way  for  the  remarkable  series  of  explorations 
described  in  another  work.^  Again  and  again 
he  urged  upon  Colbert  and  the  Idng  a  measure 
from  which,  had  it  taken  effect,  momentous  con- 
sequences must  have  sprung.  This  was  the  jDur- 
chase  or  seizure  of  New  York,  involving  the 
isolation  of  New  England,  the  subjection  of 
the  L'oquois,  and  the  undisputed  control  of  half 
the  continent. 

1  Talon  a  Colbert,  10  Nov.,  1670. 

2  Discovery  of  the  Great  West 


214  PATERNAL   GOVERNMENT.  [1665-72 

Great  as  were  liis  opportunities  of  abusing  his 
trust,  it  does  not  appear  that  he  took  advantage 
of  them.  He  held  lands  and  houses  in  Canada/ 
owned  the  brewery  which  he  had  established,  and' 
embarked  in  various  enterprises  of  productive 
industry ;  but,  so  far  as  I  can  discover,  he  is  no- 
where accused  of  making  illicit  gains,  and  there  is 
reason  to  believe  that  he  acquitted  himself  of  his 
charge  with  entire  fidelity.^  His  health  failed  in 
1668,  and  for  this  and  other  causes  he  asked  for 
his  recall.  Colbert  granted  it  with  strong  expres- 
sions of  regret ;  and  when,  two  years  later,  he  re- 
sumed the  intendancy,  the  colony  seems  to  have 
welcomed  his  return. 

1  In  1682,  the  Intendant  Meules,  In  a  despatch  to  the  mhiistei, 
makes  a  statement  of  Talon's  property  in  Quebec.  The  chief  items  are 
the  brewery  and  a  house  of  some  value  on  the  descent  of  Mountain 
Street.  He  owned,  also,  the  valuable  seigniory,  afterwards  barony, 
Des  Islets,  in  the  immediate  neighborhood. 

2  Some  imputations  against  him,  not  of  much  weight,  are,  howevcFj 
made  in  a  memorial  of  Aubert  de  la  Chesnaye,  a  merchant  of  Quebec 


CHAPTER    Xm. 

1661-1673. 

MARRIAGE   AND   POPULATION. 

Shipment  of  Emigrants.  —  Soldier  Settlers.  —  Importation  of 
Wives.  —  Wedlock.  —  Summary  Methods.  —  The  Mothers  of 
Canada.  —  Bounties  on  Marriage.  —  Celibacx  Punished.  — 
Bounties  on  Children.  —  Results. 

The  peopling  of  Canada  was  due  in  the  main  to 
the  kino".  Before  the  accession  of  Louis  XIV.  the 
entire  popuLation,  priests,  nuns,  traders,  and  set- 
tlers, did  not  exceed  twenty-five  hundred ;  ^  but 
scarcely  had  he  reached  his  majority  when  the  ship- 
ment of  men  to  the  colony  was  systematically  be- 
gun. Even  in  Argenson's  time,  loads  of  emigrants 
sent  out  by  the  Crown  were  landed  every  year  at 
Quebec.  The  Sulpitians  of  Montreal  also  brought 
over  colonists  to  people  their  seigniorial  estate  ;  the 
same  Avas  true  on  a  small  scale  of  one  or  two  other 
proprietors,  and  once  at  least  the  company  sent  a 
considerable  number:  yet  the  government  was 
the  chief  agent  of  emigration.  Colbert  did  the 
work,  and  the  king  paid  for  it. 

In  1661,  Laval  wrote  to  the  cardinals  of  the 
Propaganda,  that  during  the  past  two  years  the 

*  Le  Clerc,  Elablissement  de  la  Fotj,  II.  4. 


21 G  MARRIAGE   AND   POPULATION.  [1661-65 

king  had  spent  two  hundred  thousand  livres  on 
the  colony;  that,  smce  1G59,  he  had  sent  out  three 
hundred  men  a  year ;  and  that  he  had  promised  to 
send  an  equal  number  every  summer  during  ten 
years.^  These  men  were  sent  by  squads  in  mer- 
chant-ships, each  one  of  which  was  required  to 
carry  a  certain  number.  In  many  instances,  emi- 
grants w^ere  bound  on  their  arrival  to  enter  into 
the  service  of  colonists  already  established.  In 
this  case  the  employer  paid  them  wages,  and  after 
a  term  of  three  years  they  became  settlers  them- 
selves.^ 

The  destined  emigrants  were  collected  by  agents 
in  the  provinces,  conducted  to  Dieppe  or  Rochelle, 
and  thence  embarked.  At  first  men  were  sent 
from  Rochelle  itself,  and  its  neighborhood ;  but 
Laval  remonstrated,  declaring  that  he  wanted 
none  from  that  ancient  stronghold  of  heresy.^ 
The  people  of  RocheUe,  indeed,  found  no  favor  in 
Canada.  Another  writer  describes  them  as  "  per- 
sons of  little  conscience,  and  almost  no  religion," 
adding  that  the  Normans,  Percherons,  Picards,  and 
peasants  of  the  neighborhood  of  Paris,  are  docile, 
industrious,  and  far  more  pious.  "  It  is  impor- 
tant," he  concludes,  "  in  beginning  a  new  colony, 
to  sow  good  seed."  ^  It  was,  accordingly^,  from  the 
north-western  provinces  that  most  of  the  emigrants 

1  Lettre  de  Laval  envoy€e  a  Rome.  21  Oct.,  1661  (extract  in  Faillon  from 
Archives  of  the  Propaganda). 

■-  Marie  de  I'lncarnation,  18  Aoiif,  1664.  These  engage's  were  some- 
times also  brouglit  over  by  private  persons. 

3   Colbert  a  Laval,  18  Mars,  1664. 

'  M€moire  de  1064  (anonymous). 


f  665-72.]  EMIGRANTS.  217 

were  drawn.'  They  seem  in  the  main  to  have 
been  a  decent  peasantry,  though  writers  who,  from 
their  position,  should  have  been  well  informed, 
have  denounced  them  in  unmeasured  terms." 
Some  of  them  could  read  and  write,  and  souk* 
brought  with  them  a  little  money. 

Talon  was  constantly  begging  for  more  men, 
till  Louis  XIV.  at  length  took  alarm.  Colbert 
replied  to  the  over-zealous  intendant,  that  the 
king  did  not  think  it  expedient  to  depopulate 
France,  in  order  to  people  Canada ;  that  he  wanted 
men  for  his  armies ;  and  that  the  colony  must  rely 
chiefly  on  increase  from  within.  Still  the  ship- 
ments did  not  cease ;  and,  even  wliile  tempering 
the   ardor  of   his  agent,  the    king   gave    another 


'  See  a  paper  by  Garneau  in  Le  National  of  Quebec,  28  October,  1856, 
embodying  the  results  of  research  among  tlie  papers  of  the  early  notaries 
of  Quebec.  Tiie  chief  emigration  was  from  Paris,  Normandy,  Poitou, 
Pays  d'Aunis,  Brittany,  and  Picardy.  Nearly  all  tiiose  from  Paris  were 
sent  by  tlie  king  from  houses  of  charity. 

-  "  Une  foule  d'aventuriers,  ramasse's  au  hazard  en  France,  presque 
tous  de  la  lie  du  peuple,  la  plupart  oberes  de  dettes  ou  charges  de  crimes." 
etc.  La  Tour,  Vie  de  Laval,  Liv.  IV.  "  Le  vice  a  oblige  la  plupart  de 
chercher  ce  pays  comme  un  asile  pour  se  mettre  ii  convert  de  leurs  crimes," 
Meules,  Depeche  de  1682.  Meules  was  intendant  in  that  year.  Marie 
de  ITncarnation,  after  speaking  of  the  emigrants  as  of  a  very  mixed 
character,  says  that  it  would  have  been  far  better  to  send  a  few  who 
were  good  Christians,  rather  than  so  many  who  give  so  much  trouble. 
Lettre  du — Oct.,  1669. 

Le  Clerc,  on  the  other  hand,  is  emphatic  in  praise,  calling  the  early 
colonists,  "  tr^s  honnetes  gens,  ayant  de  la  probite',  de  la  droiture,  et  de  la 
religion.  .  .  .  L'on  a  examine  et  choisi  les  habitants,  etrenvoye?  en  Franco 
les  personnes  vicieuses."  If,  he  adds,  any  such  were  left  "ils  effiicaient 
glorieusement  par  leur  pe'nitence  les  taches  de  leur  premiere  condition." 
Charlevoix  is  almost  as  strong  in  praise  as  La  Tour  in  censure.  Both  of 
them  wrote  in  the  next  century.  We  shall  have  means  hereafter  of 
judging  between  these  conflicting  statements. 


218  MARRIAGE   AND   POPULATION.  [1665-72 

proof  how  much  he  had  the  growth  of  Canada  at 
heart.^ 

The  regiment  of  Carignan-Salieres  had  been  or- 
dered home,  with  the  exception  of  four  companies 
kept  in  garrison,^  and  a  considerable  number  dis- 
charged in  order  to  become  settlers.  Of  those  who 
returned,  six  companies  were,  a  year  or  two  later, 
sent  back,  discharged  in  their  turn,  and  con- 
verted into  colonists.  Neither  men  nor  officers  were 
positively  constrained  to  remain  in  Canada ;  but  the 
officers  were  told  that  if  they  wished  to  please  his 
Majesty  this  was  the  way  to  do  so  ;  and  both  they  and 
the  men  were  stimulated  by  promises  and  rewards. 
Fifteen  hundred  livres  were  given  to  La  Motte,  be- 
cause he  had  married  in  the  country  and  meant  to 
remain  there.  Six  thousand  livres  were  assigned 
to  other  officers,  because  they  had  followed,  or  were 
about  to  follow.  La  Motto's  example  ;  and  twelve 
thousand  were  set  apart  to  be  distributed  to  the 
soldiers  under  similar  conditions.^  Each  soldier 
who  consented  to  remain  and  settle  was  promised 
a  grant  of  land  and  a  hundred  livres  in  money ;  or, 
if  he  preferred  it,  fifty  hvres  with  provisions  for  a 
3'ear,  This  military  colonization  had  a  strong  and 
lasting  influence  on  the  character  of  the  Canadian 
people. 

1  The  king  had  sent  out  more  emigrants  than  he  had  promised,  to 
judge  from  the  census  reports  during  the  years  1666,  1667,  and  1668. 
The  total  population  for  those  years  is  3418,  4312,  and  5870,  respectively. 
A  small  part  of  this  growth  may  be  set  down  to  emigration  not  under 
government  auspices,  and  a  large  part  to  natural  increase,  which  waa 
enormous  at  this  time,  from  causes  which  will  soon  appear. 

2  Colbert  a  Talon,  20  Fev.,  1668. 

3  Ibid. 


#665-72.]  IMPORTATION  OF   WIVES.  219 

But  if  the  colony  was  to  grow  from  within,  the 
new  settlers  must  have  wives.  For  some  years 
past,  the  Sulpitians  had  sent  out  young  women  for 
the  supply  of  Montreal ;  and  the  king,  on  a  larger 
scale,  continued  the  benevolent  work.  Girls  for 
the  colony  were  taken  from  the  hospitals  of  Paris 
and  of  Lyons,  which  were  not  so  much  hospitals  for 
the  sick  as  houses  of  refuge  for  the  poor.  Mother 
Mary  writes  in  1665  that  a  hundred  had  come  that 
summer,  and  were  nearly  all  provided  with  hus- 
bands, and  that  two  hundred  more  were  to  come 
next  year.  The  case  was  urgent,  for  the  demand 
was  great.  Complaints,  however,  were  soon  heard 
that  women  from  cities  made  indifferent  partners  ; 
and  peasant  girls,  healthy,  strong,  and  accustomed 
to  field  work,  were  demanded  in  their  place.  Peas- 
ant girls  were  therefore  sent,  but  this  was  not  all. 
Officers  as  well  as  men  wanted  wives ;  and  Talon 
asked  for  a  consignment  of  young  ladies.  His  re- 
quest was  promptly  answered.  In  1667,  he  writes : 
"  They  send  us  eighty-four  girls  from  Dieppe  and 
twenty-five  from  Rochelle  ;  among  them  are  fifteen 
or  twenty  of  pretty  good  birth ;  several  of  them 
are  really  demoiselles,  and  tolerably  well  brought 
up."  They  complained  of  neglect  and  hardship 
during  the  voyage.  "  I  shall  do  what  I  can  to  soothe 
their  discontent,"  adds  the  intendant ;  "for if  they 
write  to  their  correspondents  at  home  how  ill  they 
have  been  treated  it  would  be  an  obstacle  to  your 
plan  of  sending  us  next  year  a  number  of  select 
young  ladies."  ^ 

1  "  Des  demoiselles  bien  choipies."     Talon  a  Colbert,  27  Oct.,  1667. 


220  MARRIAGE   AND  POPULATION.  [1666-72 

Three  years  later  we  find  him  asking  for  three 
or  four  more  in  behalf  of  certain  bachelor  officers. 
The  response  surpassed  his  utmost  wishes  j  and  he 
wrote  again :  ^'  It  is  not  expedient  to  send  more 
demoiselles.  I  have  had  this  year  fifteen  of  them, 
instead  of  the  four  I  asked  for."  ^ 

As  regards  peasant  girls,  the  supply  rarely 
equalled  the  demand.  Count  Frontenac,  Cour- 
celle's  successor,  complained  of  the  scarcity :  "  If 
a  hundred  and  fifty  girls  and  as  many  servants,"  he 
says,  "  had  been  sent  out  tliis  year,  they  would 
all  have  found  husbands  and  masters  within  a 
month."  ^ 

The  character  of  these  candidates  for  matri- 
mony has  not  escaped  the  pen  of  slander.  The 
caustic  La  Hontan,  writing  fifteen  or  twent}""  j^ears 
after,  draws  the  following  sketch  of  the  mothers 
of  Canada  :  "  After  the  regiment  of  Carignan  was 
disbanded,  ships  were  sent  out  freighted  with 
girls  of  indifferent  virtue,  under  the  direction  of  a 
few  pious  old  duennas,  wdio  divided  them  into 
three  classes.  These  vestals  were,  so  to  speak, 
piled  one  on  the  other  in  three  different  haUs, 
where  the  bridegrooms  chose  their  brides  as  a 
butcher  chooses  his  sheep  out  of  the  midst  of  the 

-   Talon  a  Colbert,  2  Nov.,  1671. 

2  Frontenac  a  Colbert,  2  Nov.,  1672.  This  year  only  eleven  girls  had 
been  sent.  Tlie  scarcity  was  due  to  the  indiscretion  of  Talon,  who  had 
written  to  the  minister  that,  as  many  of  the  old  settlers  had  daughters 
just  becoming  marriageable,  it  would  be  well,  in  order  tliat  they  might 
find  husbands,  to  send  no  more  girls  from  France  at  present. 

The  next  year,  1673,  the  king  writes  that,  though  he  is  involved  in  a 
great  war,  which  needs  all  his  resources,  he  has  nevertheless  sent  sixty 
more  gu-ls. 


ir.65-72.]  ASPERSIONS   OF  LA   HONTAN.  221 

flock.  There  was  wherewith  to  content  the  most 
fantastical  in  these  three  harems ;  for  here  were 
to  be  seen  the  tall  and  the  short,  the  blond  and 
the  brown,  the  plump  and  the  lean ;  everybody, 
in  short,  found  a  shoe  to  fit  him.  At  the  end 
of  a  fortnight  not  one  was  left.  I  am  told  that  the 
plumpest  were  taken  first,  because  it  was  thought 
that,  being  less  active,  they  were  more  likely  to 
keep  at  home,  and  that  they  could  resist  the  winter 
cold  better.  Those  who  wanted  a  wife  apphed  to 
the  directresses,  to  whom  they  were  obhged  to 
make  known  their  possessions  and  means  of  liveli- 
hood before  taking  from  one  of  the  three  classes 
the  girl  whom  they  found  most  to  their  liking. 
The  marriage  was  concluded  forthwith,  with  the 
help  of  a  priest  and  a  notary,  and  the  next  day  the 
governor-general  caused  the  couple  to  be  pre- 
sented with  an  ox,  a  cow,  a  pair  of  swine,  a  pair 
of  fowls,  two  barrels  of  salted  meat,  and  eleven 
crowns  in  money."  ^ 

As  regards  the  character  of  the  girls,  there  can 
be  no  doubt  that  this  amusing  sketch  is,  in  the 
main,  maliciously  untrue.  Since  the  colony  began, 
it  had  been  the  practice  to  send  back  to  France 
women  of  the  class  alluded  to  by  La  Hontan,  as 
soon  as  they  became  notorious.^     Those  who  were 

1  La  Hontan,  Nouveaux  Voyages,  I.  11  (1709).  In  some  of  tlic  other 
editions,  the  same  account  is  given  in  diflerent  words,  equally  Hvely  and 
scandalous. 

2  This  is  tlie  statement  of  Boucher,  a  good  authority.  A  case  of  the 
sort  in  1G58  is  mentioned  in  the  correspondence  of  Argenson.  Boucher 
says  further,  that  an  assurance  of  good  character  was  rotiuired  from  tlie 
relations  or  friends  of  the  girl  who  wished  to  enihark.  This  refers  to  a 
period  anterior  to  IGG;?,  when  Boucher  wrote  his  book.  Colbert  evidently 
cared  for  no  qualification  except  the  capacity  of  maternity. 


222  PATERNAL   GOVERNMENT.  [1665-72 

not  taken  from  institutions  of  charity  usually  be- 
longed to  the  families  of  peasants  overburdened 
with  children,  and  glad  to  find  the  chance  of  estab- 
lishino;  them.^  How  some  of  them  were  obtained 
appears  from  a  letter  of  Colbert  to  Harlay,  A.rch- 
bishop  of  Rouen.  "  As,  in  the  parishes  about 
Rouen,"  he  writes,  "fifty  or  sixty  girls  might  be 
found  who  would  be  very  glad  to  go  to  Canada  to 
be  married,  I  beg  you  to  employ  your  credit  and 
authority  with  the  cures  of  thirty  or  forty  of  these 
parishes,  to  try  to  find  in  each  of  them  one  or  two 
girls  disposed  to  go  voluntarily  for  the  sake  of  a 
settlement  in  life."^ 

Mistakes  nevertheless  occurred.  "  Along  with 
the  honest  people,"  complains  Mother  Mary, "  comes 
a  great  deal  of  canaille  of  both  sexes,  who  cause  a 
great  deal  of  scandal."^  After  some  of  the  3^oung 
women  had  been  married  at  Quebec,  it  was  found 
that   they  had   husbands  at  home.      The  priests 

1  T€mo)gnage  de  la  Mere  du  Plessis  de  Sainte-Helene  (extract  in  Faillon). 

2  Colbert  a  V Arclteveque  de  Rouen,  27  Fev.,  1670. 

That  they  were  not  always  destitute  may  be  gathered  from  a  passage 
in  one  of  Talon's  letters.  "  Entre  les  filles  qu'on  fait  passer  ici  il  y  en  a 
qui  ont  de  legitimes  et  conside'rables  pre'tentions  aux  successions  de  leurs 
parents,  meme  entre  celles  qui  sont  tire'es  de  I'Hopital  Gene'ral."  The 
General  Hospital  of  Paris  had  recently  been  established  (1656)  as  a 
liouse  of  refuge  for  the  "  Bohemians,"  or  vagrants  of  Paris.  The  royal 
edict  creating  it  says  that  "  les  pauvres  mendiants  et  invalides  des  deux 
sexes  y  seraient  enfermes  pour  estre  employe's  aux  manufactures  et  aidtres 
travaux  selon  leur  pouvoir."  They  were  gathered  by  force  in  the  streets 
by  a  body  of  special  police,  called  "  Archers  de  ITiopital."  They  re- 
sisted at  first,  and  serious  riots  ensued.  In  1662,  the  General  Hospital 
of  Paris  contained  6262  paupers.  See  Clement,  Histoire  de  Colbert,  113. 
Mother  de  Sainte-Helene  says  that  the  girls  sent  from  this  asylum  had 
been  there  from  childhood  in  charge  of  nuns. 

^  "  Beaucoup  de  canaille  de  Tun  et  I'autre  sexe  qui  causent  beaucoup 
de  scandale."    Lettre  du —  Oct.,  1669. 


16G5-72.]  THE   MOTHERS   OF   CANADA.  ^^23 

became  cautious  in  tying  the  matrimonial  knot, 
and  Colbert  thereupon  ordered  that  each  girl  should 
provide  herself  with  a  certificate  from  the  cure  or 
magistrate  of  her  parish  to  the  effect  that  she  was 
free  to  marry.  Nor  was  the  practical  intendant 
unmindful  of  other  precautions  to  smooth  the 
path  to  the  desired  goal.  "  The  girls  destined  for 
this  country,"  he  writes,  "besides  being  strong  and 
healthy,  ought  to  be  entirely  free  from  any  natural 
blemish  or  any  thing  personally  repulsive."  ^ 

Thus  qualified  canonically  and  physically,  the 
annual  consignment  of  young  women  was  shipped 
to  Quebec,  in  charge  of  a  matron  employed  and 
paid  by  the  king.  Her  task  was  not  an  easy  one, 
for  the  troop  under  her  care  was  apt  to  consist  of 
what  Mother  Mary  in  a  moment  of  unwonted  levity 
calls  "mixed  goods." ^  On  one  occasion  the  office 
was  undertaken  by  the  pious  widow  of  Jean  Bour- 
don. Her  flock  of  a  hundred  and  fifty  girls,  says 
Mother  Mary,  "  gave  her  no  little  trouble  on  the 
voyage ;  for  they  are  of  all  sorts,  and  some  of  them 
are  very  rude  and  hard  to  manage."  Madame 
Bourdon  was  not  daunted.  She  not  only  saw  her 
charge  distributed  and  married,  but  she  continued 
to  receive  and  care  for  the  subsequent  ship-loads 
as  they  arrived  summer  after  siunmer.     She  was 

1  Talon  a  Colbej-l,  10  Nov.,  1670. 

2  "  Une  marclianrlise  melee."  Lettre  dti  —  1668.  In  that  year,  1068, 
the  king  spent  40,000  livres  in  tlie  shipment  of  men  and  '/nls.  In  10G9, 
a  liundred  and  fifty  girls  were  sent;  in  1670,  a  hundred  and  sixty-five; 
and  Talon  asks  for  a  hundred  and  fifty  or  two  hundred  more  to  supply 
the  soldiers  who  had  got  ready  their  houses  and  clearings,  and  were  now 
prepared  to  marry.  The  tolal  number  of  girls  sent  from  1665  to  1673, 
inclusive,  was  about  a  thousand. 


224  MAREIAGE   AND   rOPULATION.  [1605-72 

indeed  chief  among  the  pious  duennas  of  whom  La 
Hontan  irreverently  speaks.  Marguerite  Bour- 
geojs  did  the  same  good  offices  for  the  young 
women  sent  to  Montreal.  Here  the  "  king's  girls," 
as  they  were  called,  were  all  lodged  together  in  a 
house  to  which  the  suitors  repaired  to  make  their 
selection.  "  I  was  obliged  to  live  there  myself," 
writes  the  excellent  nun,  "  because  families  w^ere 
to  be  formed ; "  ^  that  is  to  say,  because  it  was  she 
who  superintended  these  extemporized  unions. 
Meanwhile  she  taught  the  girls  their  catechism, 
and,  more  fortunate  than  Madame  Bourdon,  in- 
spired them  with  a  confidence  and  affection  which 
they  retained  long  after. 

At  Quebec,  where  the  matrimonial  market  was 
on  a  larger  scale,  a  more  ample  bazaar  was  needed. 
That  the  girls  were  assorted  into  three  classes,  each 
penned  up  for  selection  in  a  separate  hall,  is  a 
statement  probable  enough  in  itself,  but  resting  on 
no  better  authority  than  that  of  La  Hontan.  Be 
this  as  it  may,  they  w^ere  submitted  together  to 
the  inspection  of  the  suitor ;  and  the  awkward 
young  peasant  or  the  rugged  soldier  of  Carignan 
was  required  to  choose  a  bride  without  delay  from 
among  the  anxious  candidates.  They,  on  their 
part,  were  permitted  to  reject  any  applicant  who 
displeased  them,  and  the  first  question,  we  are  told, 
which  most  of  them  asked  was  whether  the  suitor 
had  a  house  and  a  farm. 

Great  as  was  the  call  for  wives,  it  was  thought 
prudent  to  stimulate  it.    The  new  settler  was  at  once 

'  Extract  in  Faillon,  Colonie  Franqaise,  III.  214. 


lfi65-72.|  BOUNTIES   ON  MARRIAGE.  225 

enticed  and  driven  into  wedlock.  Bounties  were 
offered  on  early  marriages.  Twenty  livres  were 
given  to  each  youth  who  married  before  the  age 
of  twenty,  and  to  each  girl  who  married  before  the 
age  of  sixteen.^  This,  which  was  called  the  "  king's 
gift,"  was  exclusive  of  the  dowry  given  by  him  to 
every  girl  brought  over  by  his  orders.  The  dowry 
varied  greatly  in  form  and  value ;  but,  according 
to  Mother  Mary,  it  was  sometimes  a  house  with 
provisions  for  eight  months.  More  often  it  was 
fifty  livres  in  household  supplies,  besides  a  barrel 
or  two  of  salted  meat.  The  royal  solicitude  ex- 
tended also  to  the  children  of  colonists  already 
established.  "  I  pray  you,"  writes  Colbert  to 
Talon,  "  to  commend  it  to  the  consideration  of  the 
whole  people,  that  their  prosperity,  their  subsist- 
ence, and  all  that  is  dear  to  them,  depend  on  a 
general  resolution,  never  to  be  departed  from,  to 
marry  youths  at  eighteen  or  nineteen  years  and 
girls  at  fourteen  or  fifteen  ;  since  abundance  can 
never  come  to  them  except  through  the  abundance 
of  men."  ^  This  counsel  was  followed  by  appropri- 
ate action.  Any  father  of  a  famil}^  who,  without 
showing  good  cause,  neglected  to  marry  his  chil- 
dren when  they  had  reached  the  ages  of  twenty 
and  sixteen  was  fined ;  ^  and  each  father  thus  de- 
linquent was  required  to  present  himself  ever}''  six 
months  to  the  local   authorities  to  declare  what 

'  Arret  dii  Canseil  d'Elat  dtt  Roy  (see  Edits  et  Ordonnanres,  I.  67). 

2   Colbert  a  Talon,  20  Fev.,  1668. 

'  Arrets  dii  Conseil  d'Etat,  1669  (cited  by  Faillon)  ;  Anct  dtt  Omseil 
d'Elat,  1670  (see  Edits  et  Ordonnances,  I.  67) ;  Ordoniiance  du  Rotj,  5  Arn-il, 
1669.     See  Clement,  Instrmlious,  etc.,  de  Colbert,  III.  2iiie  I'iirtie,  657. 

16 


226  MARRIAGE   AND  POPULATION  11665-7Z 

reason,  if  any,  he  had  for  such  delay.*  Orders 
were  issued,  a  little  before  the  arrival  of  the  yearly 
ships  from.  France,  that  all  single  men  should  marry 
within  a  fortnight  after  the  landing  of  the  prospec- 
tive brides.  No  mercy  was  shown  to  the  obdurate 
bachelor.  Talon  issued  an  order  forbidding  un- 
married men  to  hunt,  fish,  trade  with  the  Indians, 
or  go  into  the  woods  under  any  pretence  whatso- 
ever.^ In  short,  they  were  made  as  miserable  as 
possible.  Colbert  goes  further.  He  writes  to  the 
intendant,  "  those  who  may  seem  to  have  abso- 
lutely renounced  marriage  should  be  made  to 
bear  additional  burdens,  and  be  excluded  from  all 
honors :  it  would  be  well  even  to  add  some  marks 
of  infamy."^  The  success  of  these  measures  was 
complete.  "  No  sooner,"  says  Mother  Mary,  "  have 
the  vessels  arrived  than  the  young  men  go  to 
get  wives ;  and,  by  reason  of  the  great  number 
they  are  married  by  thirties  at  a  time."  Through- 
out the  length  and  breadth  of  Canada,  Hj^men, 

1  Registre  du  Conseil  Souverain. 

-  Talon  an  Ministry,  10  Oct.,  1670.  Colbert  highly  approves  this  order. 
Faillon  found  a  case  of  its  enforcement  among  the  ancient  records  of 
Montreal.  In  December,  1670,  rran9ois  Le  Noir,  an  inhabitant  of  La 
Chine,  was  summoned  before  the  judge,  because,  though  a  single  man,  he 
had  traded  with  Indians  at  his  own  house.  He  confessed  the  fact,  but 
protested  that  he  would  marry  within  three  weeks  after  the  arriyal  of 
the  vessels  from  France,  or,  failing  to  do  so,  that  he  would  give  a  hundred 
and  fifty  livres  to  the  church  of  Montreal,  and  an  equal  sum  to  the  hos. 
pital.  On  this  condition  he  was  allowed  to  trade,  but  was  still  forbidden 
to  go  into  the  woods.  The  next  year  he  kept  his  word,  and  married 
Marie  Magdeleine  Charbonnier,  late  of  Paris. 

The  prohibition  to  go  into  the  woods  was  probably  intended  to  prevent 
the  bachelor  from  finding  a  temporary  Indian  substitute  for  a  French  wife. 

^  "  II  serait  a  propos  de  leur  augmenter  les  charges,  de  les  priver  de 
tous  honneurs,  meme  d'y  ajouter  quelque  marque  d'infamie."  Lettre  du 
20  Fev.,  1668. 


1665-72]  BOUNTIES   ON   CHILDREN.  227 

if  not  Cupid,  was  whipped  into  a  frenzy  of 
activity.  Dollier  de  Casson  tells  us  of  a  widow 
who  was  married  afresh  before  her  late  husband 
was  buried.^ 

Nor  was  the  fatherly  care  of  the  king  confined 
to  the  humbler  classes  of  his  colonists.  He  wished 
to  form  a  Canadian  noblesse,  to  which  end  early 
marriao;es  were  thouo-lit  needful  amonsj  officers  and 
others  of  the  better  sort.  The  progress  of  such 
marriages  was  carefully  watched  and  reported  by 
the  intendant.  We  have  seen  the  reward  bestowed 
upon  La  Motte  for  taking  to  himself  a  wife,  and 
the  money  set  apart  for  the  brother  officers  who 
imitated  him.  In  his  despatch  of  October,  1667, 
the  intendant  announces  that  two  captains  are 
already  married  to  two  damsels  of  the  country ; 
that  a  heutenant  has  espoused  a  daughter  of  the 
governor  of  Three  Rivers ;  and  that  "  four  ensigns 
are  in  treaty  with  their  mistresses,  and  are  already 
half  engaged."^  The  paternal  care  of  government, 
one  would  think,  could  scarcely  go  further. 

It  did,  however,  go  further.  Bounties  ^ere 
offered  on  children.  The  king,  in  council,  passed 
a  decree  '•'  that  in  future  all  inhabitants  of  the  said 
country  of  Canada  who  shall  have  hving  children 
to  the  number  of  ten,  born  in  lawful  wedlock,  not 


1  ITistoire  du  Montreal,  A.D.  1671,  1672. 

2  "  Quatre  eiiseigncs  sont  en  pourparler  avcc  lenrs  maitresses  et  sont 
deji  Ji  (leini  engage's."  D^pcche  du  27  Oct.,  1667.  Tlie  lieutenant  was 
Rene  Gaultier  de  Varennes,  who  on  the  26th  September,  1607,  married 
Marie  Boucher,  daugliter  of  the  governor  of  Tiiree  Rivers,  aged  twelve  yim-a. 
One  of  the  children  of  this  marriage  was  Varennes  de  la  Vc'rendrye, 
discoverer  of  the  Rocky  Mountains. 


228  MARRIAGE   AND  POPULATION.  [1665-72. 

being  priests,  monks,  or  nuns,  shall  each  be  paid 
out  of  the  moneys  sent  by  his  Majesty  to  the  said 
country  a  pension  of  three  hundred  Hvres  a  year, 
and  those  who  shall  have  twelve  children,  a  pension 
of  four  hundred  livres ;  and  that,  to  this  effect, 
they  shall  be  required  to  declare  the  number  of 
their  children  every  year  in  the  months  of  June 
or  July  to  the  intendant  of  justice,  police,  and 
finance,  established  in  the  said  country,  who,  hav- 
ing verified  the  same,  shall  order  the  payment  of 
said  pensions,  one-half  in  cash,  and  the  other  half 
at  the  end  of  each  j^ear."  ^  This  was  applicable  to 
all.  Colbert  had  before  offered  a  reward,  intended 
specially  for  the  better  class,  of  twelve  hundred 
livres  to  those  who  had  fifteen  children,  and  eight 
hundred  to  those  who  had  ten. 

These  wise  encouragements,  as  the  worthy  Fail- 
Ion  calls  them,  were  crowned  with  the  desired 
result.  A  despatch  of  Talon  in  1670  informs  the 
minister  that  most  of  the  young  women  sent  out 
last  summer  are  pregnant  already,  and  in  1671  he 
announces  that  from  six  hundred  to  seven  hundred 
children  have  been  born  in  the  colony  during  the 
year;  a  prodigious  number  in  view  of  the  small 
population.  The  climate  was  supposed  to  be  par- 
ticularly favorable  to  the  health  of  women,  which 

1  Edits  et  Ordonnances,  I.  67.  It  was  tliought  at  this  time  that  the 
Indians,  mingled  with  the  French,  might  become  a  valuable  part  of  the 
population.  The  reproductive  qualities  of  Indian  women,  therefore, 
became  an  object  of  Talon's  attention,  and  he  reports  that  they  impair 
their  fertility  by  nursing  their  children  longer  than  is  necessary;  "but," 
he  adds,  "  this  obstacle  to  the  speedy  building  up  of  the  colony  can  be 
overcome  by  a  police  regulation."  M€moire  sur  I'Etat  Present  du 
Canada,  1667. 


1665-72.]  DISAPPOINTMENT.  229 

is  somewhat  surprising  in  view  of  recent  American 
experience.  "  The  first  reflection  I  have  to  make," 
says  Dolher  de  Casson,  "  is  on  the  advantage  that 
w^omen  have  in  this  place  {Montreal)  over  men, 
for  though  the  cold  is  very  wholesome  to  both 
sexes,  it  is  incomparably  more  so  to  the  female, 
who  is  almost  immortal  here."  Her  fecujidity 
matched  her  longevity,  and  was  the  admiration  of 
Talon  and  his  successors,  accustomed  as  they  were 
to  the  scanty  families  of  France. 

Why  with  this  great  natural  increase  joined  to 
an  immigration  which,  though  greatly  diminishing, 
did  not  entirely  cease,  was  there  not  a  correspond- 
ing increase  in  the  population  of  the  colony  ?  Why, 
more  than  half  a  century  after  the  king  took 
Canada  in  charge,  did  the  census  show  a  total  of 
less  than  twenty-five  thousand  souls  ?  The  reasons 
will  appear  hereafter. 

It  is  a  peculiarity  of  Canadian  immigration,  at 
tliis  its  most  flourishing  epoch,  that  it  was  mainly 
an  immio;ration  of  sino;le  men  and  sino;le  women 
The  cases  in  which  entire  families  came  over  were 
comparatively  few.^     The  new  settler  was  found 

•  The  principal  emigration  of  families  seems  to  have  been  in  1669 
vrhen,  at  the  urgency  of  Talon,  then  in  France,  a  considerable  numbei 
were  sent  out.  In  the  earlier  period  the  emigration  of  families  was,  rela- 
tively, nuich  greater.  Thus,  in  1634,  the  physician  Giffard  brought  over 
seven  to  people  his  seigniory  of  Beauport.  Before  1663,  when  the  king 
took  the  colony  iu  hand,  tiie  emigrants  were  for  the  most  part  apprenticed 
laborers. 

The  zeal  with  which  the  king  entered  into  the  work  of  stocking  his 
colouy  is  sliown  by  numberless  passages  in  his  letters,  and  those  of  his 
minister.  "The  end  and  the  rule  of  all  your  conduct,"  says  Colbert  to 
the  intendant  Bouteroue,  "  should  be  the  increase  of  the  colony ;  and  on 
this  point  you  should  never  be  satisfied,  but  labor  without  ceasing  to 


230  MARRIAGE  AND  POPULATION.  [1665-72 

by  the  king ;  sent  over  by  the  king ;  and  supplied 
by  the  king  with  a  wife,  a  farm,  and  soinetiines 
with  a  house.  Well  did  Louis  XIV.  earn  the  title 
of  Father  of  New  France.  But  the  royal  zeal  was 
s23asmodic.  The  king  was  diverted  to  other  cares, 
and  soon  after  the  outbreak  of  the  Dutch  war  in 
1672  the  regular  despatch  of  emigrants  to  Canada 
wellnigh  ceased ;  though  the  practice  of  disband- 
ing soldiers  in  the  colony,  giving  them  lands,  and 
turning  them  into  settlers,  was  continued  in  some 
degree,  even  to  the  last. 

find  every  imaginaLle  expedient  for  preserving  the  inhabitants,  attracting 
new  ones,  and  multiplying  them  by  marriage."  Listruction  vour  M. 
Bouteroue,  1668. 


CHAPTER   XIV. 

1665-1672. 

THE   NEW   HOME. 

Military  Frontier.  —  The  Canadian  Settler.  —  Seignior  and 
Vassal.  —  Example  of  Talon.  —  Plan  of  Settlement.  —  As- 
pect OF  Canada.  —  Quebec.  —  The  River  Settlements.  — 
Montreal.  —  The  Pioneers. 

We  have  seen  the  settler  landed  and  married ; 
let  us  follow  him  to  his  new  home.  At  the  end  of 
Talon's  administration,  the  head  of  the  colony,  that 
is  to  say  the  island  of  Montreal  and  the  borders  of 
the  Richelieu,  was  the  seat  of  a  peculiar  coloniza- 
tion, the  chief  object  of  which  was  to  protect  the 
rest  of  Canada  against  Iroquois  incursions.  The 
lands  along  the  Richeheu,  from  its  mouth  to  a  point 
above  Chambly,  were  divided  in  large  seigniorial 
grants  among  several  officers  of  the  regiment  of 
Carignan,  who  in  their  turn  granted  out  the  land 
to  the  soldiers,  reserving  a  sufficient  portion  as 
their  own.  The  officer  thus  became  a  kind  of 
feudal  chief,  and  the  whole  settlement  a  permanent 
miJitary  cantonment  admirably  suited  to  the  object 
in  view.  The  disbanded  soldier  was  practically  a 
soldier  still,  but  he  was  also  a  farmer  and  a  land- 
holder. 


232  THE  NEW  HOME.  [1665-72. 

Talon  had  recommended  this  plan  as  being  in 
accordance  with  the  example  of  the  Romans.  "  The 
practice  of  that  politic  and  martial  people,"  he 
wrote,  "may,  in  my  ojDinion,  be  wisely  adopted  in 
a  country  a  thousand  leagues  distant  from  its 
monarch.  And  as  the  peace  and  harmony  of  peo- 
ples depend  above  all  things  on  their  fidelity  to 
their  sovereign,  our  first  kings,  better  statesmen 
than  is  commonly  supposed,  introduced  into  newly 
conquered  countries  men  of  war,  of  approved  trust, 
in  order  at  once  to  hold  the  inhabitants  to  their 
duty  within,  and  repel  the  enemy  from  without."  * 

The  troops  were  accordingly  discharged,  and 
settled  not  alone  on  the  Richelieu,  but  also  along 
the  St.  Lawrence,  between  Lake  St.  Peter  and 
Montreal,  as  well  as  at  some  other  points.  The 
SuljDitians,  feudal  owners  of  Montreal,  adopted  a 
similar  policy,  and  surrounded  their  island  with 
a  border  of  fiefs  large  and  small,  granted  j)5^i"tly  to 
officers  and  partly  to  humbler  settlers,  bold,  hardy, 
and  practised  in  bush-fighting.  Thus  a  line  of 
sentinels  was  posted  around  their  entire  shore, 
ready  to  give  the  alarm  whenever  an  enemy 
appeared.  About  Quebec  the  settlements,  covered 
as  they  were  by  those  above,  were  for  the  most 
part  of  a  more  pacific  character. 

To  return  to  the  Richelieu.  The  to^vns  and 
villages  which  have  since  grown  upon  its  banks 
and  along  the  adjacent  shores  of  the  St.  Lawrence 
owe  their  names  to  these  officers  of  Carignan,  an- 
cient lords  of  the  soil :  Sorel,  Chambly,  Saint  Ours, 

1  Projets  de  R€glemens,  1667  (see  Edits  et  0'-donna)ices,  U.  29). 


1666-72. J  MILITAKY  FRONTIER.  233 

Contrecoeur,  Varennes,  Vercheres.  Yet  let  it  not 
be  supposed  that  villages  sprang  up  at  once.  The 
military  seignior,  valiant  and  poor  as  Walter  the 
Penniless,  was  in  no  condition  to  work  such  magic. 
His  personal  possessions  usually  consisted  of  Httle 
but  his  sword  and  the  money  which  the  king  had 
paid  him  for  marrying  a  wife.  A  domain  varying 
from  half  a  league  to  six  leagues  in  front  on  the 
river,  and  from  half  a  league  to  two  leagues  in 
depth,  had  been  freely  given  him.  When  he  had 
distributed  a  part  of  it  in  allotments  to  the  soldiers, 
a  variet}^  of.  tasks  awaited  him :  to  clear  and  culti- 
vate his  land ;  to  build  his  seigniorial  mansion,  often 
a  log  hut ;  to  build  a  fort ;  to  build  a  chapel ;  and 
to  build  a  mill.  To  do  all  this  at  once  was  impos- 
sible. Chambly,  the  chief  proprietor  on  the  Riche- 
lieu, Avas  better  able  than  the  others  to  meet  the 
exigency.  He  built  himself  a  good  house,  where, 
with  cattle  and  sheep  furnished  by  the  king,  he 
lived  in  reasonable  comfort.^  The  king's  fort,  close 
at  hand,  spared  him  and  his  tenants  the  necessity 
of  building  one  for  themselves,  and  furnished,  no 
doubt,  a  mill,  a  chapel,  and  a  chaplain.  His  brother 
officers,  Sorel  excepted,  were  less  fortunate.  They 
and  their  tenants  were  forced  to  provide  defence 
as  well  as  shelter.  Their  houses  were  all  built 
together,  and  surrounded  by  a  palisade,  so  as  to 
form  a  little  fortified  village.  The  ever-active 
benevolence  of  the  king  had  aided  them  in  the 
task,  for  the  soldiers  were  still  maintained  by  him 

1  Frontenac  an  Ministre,  2  Nov.,  1672.     Marie  de  I'lncarnation  speaks 
of  tliese  officers  on  the  Richelieu  as  ties  honniUs  ytna. 


234  THE  NEW  HOME.  [1665-7:i. 

while  clearing  the  lands  and  building  the  houses 
destined  to  be  their  own ;  nor  was  it  till  this  work 
was  done  that  the  provident  government  despatched 
them  to  Quebec  with  orders  to  bring  back  Avives. 
The  settler,  thus  lodged  and  wedded,  was  required 
on  his  part  to  aid  in  clearing  lands  for  those  who 
ehould  come  after  him.^ 

It  was  chiefly  in  the  more  exposed  parts  of  the 
colony,  that  the  houses  were  gathered  together  in 
palisaded  villages,  thus  forcing  the  settler  to  walk 
or  paddle  some  distance  to  his  farm.  He  natu- 
rally preferred  to  build  when  he  covild  on  the  front 
of  liis  farm  itself,  near  the  river,  which  supplied 
the  place  of  a  road.  As  the  grants  of  land  were 
very  narrow,  his  house  was  not  far  from  that  of 
his  next  neighbor,  and  thus  a  line  of  dwellings  was 
ranged  along  the  shore,  forming  what  in  local  lan- 
guage was  called  a  cote,  a  use  of  the  word  pecuhar 
to  Canada,  where  it  still  prevails. 

The  impoverished  seignior  rarely  built  a  chapel. 
Most  of  the  early  Canadian  churches  were  built 
with  funds  furnished  by  the  seminaries  of  Quebec 
or  of  Montreal,  aided  by  contributions  of  material 
and  labor  from  the  parishioners.^  Meanwhile  mass 
v/as  said  in  some  house  of  the  neighborhood  by 

1  "  Sa  Majeste  semble  pretendre  faire  la  depense  entiere  pour  former 
le  commencement  des  liabitations  par  I'abattis  du  bois,  la  culture  et 
semence  de  deux  arpens  de  terre,  I'avance  de  quelques  farines  aux  fa- 
milies venaiites,"  etc.,  etc.  Projets  de  R^ylemens,  16(37.  This  applied  to 
civil  and  military  settlers  alike.  The  establislied  settler  was  allowed  four 
years  to  clear  two  arpents  of  land  for  a  new-comer.  The  soldiers  were 
maintained  by  the  king  during  a  year,  while  preparing  their  farms  and 
.houses.  Talon  asks  that  two  years  more  be  given  them.  Talon  au  Rot/, 
10  Nov.,  1670. 

1  La  Tour,  Vie  de  Laval,  chap.  x. 


16G5-72.]  MODEL  SEIGNIORY.  235 

a  missioaary  priest,  paddling  his  canoe  from  village 
to  village,  or  from  cote  to  cote. 

The  mill  was  an  object  of  the  last  importance. 
It  was  built  of  stone  and  pierced  with  loopholes,  to 
serve  as  a  blockhouse  in  case  of  attack.  The 
great  mill  at  Montreal  was  one  of  the  chief  de- 
fences of  the  place.  It  was  at  once  the  duty  and 
the  right  of  the  seignior  to  supply  his  tenants,  cr 
ratlier  vassals,  with  this  essential  requisite,  and 
they  on  their  jaart  were  required  to  grind  their 
grain  at  his  mill,  leaving  the  fourteenth  part  in 
payment.  But  for  many  years  there  Avas  not  a 
seigniory  in  Canada,  where  tliis  fraction  would  pay 
the  wages  of  a  miller ;  and,  except  the  ecclesiasti- 
cal corporations,  there  were  few  seigniors  who 
could  pay  the  cost  of  building.  The  first  settlers 
were  usually  forced  to  grind  for  themselves  after 
the  tedious  fashion  of  the  Indians. 

Talon,  in  his  capacity  of  counsellor,  friend,  and 
father  to  all  Canada,  arranged  the  new  settlements 
near  Quebec  in  the  manner  which  he  judged  best, 
and  which  he  meant  to  serve  as  an  example  to  the 
rest  of  the  colony.  It  was  his  aim  to  concentrate 
population  around  this  point,  so  that,  should  an 
enemy  appear,  the  sound  of  a  cannon-shot  from 
the  Chateau  St.  Louis  might  summon  a  numerous 
boily  of  defenders  to  this  the  common  point  of 
rendezvous.^  He  bought  a  tract  of  land  near 
Quebec,  laid  it  out,  and  settled  it  as  a  model  seign- 
iory, hoping,  as  he  says,  to  kindle  a  spirit  of  emu- 
lation among  the  new-made  seigniors  to  whom  he 

'  Piojets  de  R€glemens,  1GG7. 


U36  THE  NEW  HOME.  |1665-72 

had  granted  lands  from  the  king.  He  also  laid 
out  at  the  royal  cost  three  villages  in  the  im- 
mediate neighborhood,  planning  them  with  great 
care,  and  peopling  them  partly  with  families  newly 
arrived,  partly  with  soldiers,  and  partly  with  old 
settlers,  in  order  that  the  new-comers  might  take 
lessons  from  the  experience  of  these  veterans. 
That  each  village  might  be  complete  in  itself, 
he  furnished  it  as  well  as  he  could  with  the  need- 
ful carpenter,  mason,  blacksmith,  and  shoemaker. 
These  inland  villages,  called  respectively  Bourg 
Royal,  Bourg  la  Reine,  and  Bourg  Talon,  did  not 
prove  very  thrifty.^  Wherever  the  settlers  were 
allowed  to  choose  for  themselves,  they  ranged  their 
dwellings  along  the  watercourses.  With  the  ex- 
ception of  Talon's  villages,  one  could  have  seen 
nearly  every  house  in  Canada,  by  paddling  a  canoe 
up  the  St.  Lawrence  and  the  Richelieu.  The  set- 
tlements formed  long  thin  lines  on  the  edges  of  the 
rivers ;  a  convenient  arrangement,  but  one  very 
unfavorable  to  defence,  to  ecclesiastical  control,  and 
io  strong  government.  The  lung  soon  discovered 
this ;  and  repeated  orders  were  sent  to  concentrate 
the  inhabitants  and  form  Canada  into  villages, 
instead  of  cotes.  To  do  so  would  have  involved  a 
general  revocation  of  grants  and  abandonment  of 
houses  and  clearings,  a  measure  too  arbitrary  and 
too  wasteful,  even  for  Louis  XIY.,  and  one  ex- 
tremely difficult  to  enforce.  Canada  persisted  in 
attenuating  herself,  and  the  royal  will  was  foiled. 

1  In  1672,  the  king,  as  a  mark  of  honor,  attached  these  villages  to 
Talon's  seigniory.     Documents  on  Seigniorial  Tenmre. 


1665-72,  ASPECT  OF  CANADA.  237 

As  you  ascended  the  St.  Lawrence,  the  first 
liarboring  place  of  civihzation  was  Tadoiissac,  at 
the  mouth  of  the  Saguenay,  where  the  comjDany 
had  its  tradmg  station,  where  its  agents  ruled 
supreme,  and  where,  in  early  summer,  all  was 
alive  with  canoes  and  wigwams,  and  troops  of  Mon- 
tagnais  savages,  bringing  their  furs  to  market. 
Leave  Tadoussac  behind,  and,  embarked  in  a  sail- 
boat or  a  canoe,  follow  tlie  northern  coast.  Far 
on  the  left,  twenty  miles  away,  the  southern  shore 
lies  pale  and  dim,  and  mountain  ranges  wave  their 
faint  outline  along  the  sky.  You  pass  the  beetUng 
rocks  of  Mai  Bay,  a  soUtude  but  for  the  bark  hut 
of  some  wandering  Indian  beneath  the  cliff;  the 
EboiJements  with  their  wild  romantic  gorge,  and 
foaming  waterfalls ;  and  the  Bay  of  St.  Paul  with 
its  broad  valley  and  its  woody  mountains,  rich 
with  hidden  stores  of  iron.  Vast  piles  of  savage 
verdure  border  the  mighty  stream,  till  at  length 
the  mountain  of  Cape  Tourmente  upheaves  its  huge 
bulk  from  the  bosom  of  the  water,  shadowed  by 
lowering  clouds,  and  dark  with  forests.  Just 
beyond,  begin  the  settlements  of  Laval's  vast 
seigniory  of  Beaupre,  which  had  not  been  for- 
gotten in  the  distribution  of  emigrants,  and  which, 
in  1G67,  contained  more  inhabitants  than  Quebec 
itself.^  The  ribbon  of  rich  meadow  land  that  bor- 
ders that  beautiful  shore,  was  yellow  with  wheat 

1  Thecensusof  1667  gives  to  Quebec  only  448  souls  ;  Cote  de  Beaupr^, 
666;  Beaupoit,  123;  Island  of  Orleans,  629;  other  settlements  included 
under  tlie  government  of  Quebec,  1,011 ;  Cote  de  Lauzon  (south  shore), 
113;  Trois  Rivieres  and  its  dependencies,  6GG;  Montreal,  706.  Both 
Beaupre'  and  Isle  d'Orleaus  belonged  at  this  time  to  the  bishop. 


238  THE  NEW  HOME.  [1665-72 

in  harvest  time,  and  on  the  woody  slopes  behind, 
the  frequent  clearings  and  the  solid  little  dwellings 
of  logs  continued  for  a  long  distance  to  relieve  the 
sameness  of  the  forest.  After  passing  the  cataract 
of  Montmorenci,  there  was  another  settlement, 
much  smaller,  at  Beauport,  the  seigniory  of  the 
ex-physician  Giffard,  one  of  the  earliest  proprietors 
in  Canada.  The  neighboring  shores  of  the  island 
of  Orleans  were  also  edged  with  houses  and  clear- 
ings. The  promontory  of  Quebec  now  towered 
full  in  sight,  crowned  with  church,  fort,  chateau, 
convents,  and  seminary.  There  was  little  else  on 
the  rock.  Priests,  nuns,  government  officials,  and 
soldiers,  were  the  denizens  of  the  Upper  Town ; 
while  commerce  and  the  trades  were  cabined  along 
the  strand  beneath.^  From  the  gallery  of  the 
chateau,  you  might  toss  a  pebble  far  down  on  their 
shingled  roofs.  In  the  midst  of  them  was  the 
magazine  of  the  company,  with  its  two  round 
towers  and  two  projecting  wings.  It  was  here 
that  all  the  beaver-skins  of  the  colony  were  col- 
lected, assorted,  and  shipped  for  France.  The  so- 
called  chateau  St.  Louis  was  an  indifferent  wooden 
-structure  planted  on  a  site  truly  superb ;  above 
the  Lower  Town,  above  the  river,  above  the  ships, 
gazing  abroad  on  a  majestic  panorama  of  waters, 
forests,  and  mountains.^  Behind  it  was  the  area 
of  the  fort,  of   which  it  formed  one  ^de.     The 

1  According  to  Juchereau,  there  were  seventy  houses  at  Quebec  about 
the  time  of  Tracy's  arrival. 

2  In  1660,  an  exact  inventory  vras  taken  of  the  contents  of  tlie  fort  and 
chateau  ;  a  beggarly  account  of  rubbish.  The  chateau  was  then  a  long 
low  building  roofed  with  shingles. 


1665-72.1  QUEBEC.  239 

governor  lived  in  the  chateau,  and  soldiers  were 
on  guard  night  and  day  in  the  fort.  At  some 
little  distance  was  the  convent  of  the  Ursulines, 
ugly  but  substantial/  where  Mother  Mary  of  the 
Ilicarnation  ruled  her  pupils  and  her  nuns;  and 
a  little  further  on,  towards  the  right,  was  the 
Hotel  Dieu.  Between  them  were  the  massive 
buildings  of  the  Jesuits,  then  as  now  facing  the 
principal  square.  At  one  side  was  their  church, 
newly  finished ;  and  opposite,  across  the  square, 
stood  and  still  stands  the  great  church  of  Notre 
Dame.  Behind  the  church  was  Laval's  seminary, 
with  the  extensive  enclosures  belonging  to  it.  The 
senechaussee  or  court-house,  the  tavern  of  one 
Jacques  Boisdon  on  the  square  near  the  church, 
and  a  few  houses  along  the  line  of  what  is  now  St. 
Louis  Street,  comprised  nearly  all  the  civil  part 
of  the  Upper  Town.  The  ecclesiastical  buildings 
were  of  stone,  and  the  church  of  Notre  Dame  and 
the  Jesuit  Collei'e  were  marvels  of  size  and  solid- 

O 

ity  in  view  of  the  poverty  and  weakness  of  the 
colony.^ 

Proceeding  upward  along  the  north  shore  of  the 
St.  Lawrence,  one  found  a  cluster  of  houses  at  Cap 
Rouge,  and,  further  on,  the  frequent  rude  begin- 
nings of  a  seigniory.    The  settlements  thickened  on 

1  There  is  an  engraving  of  it  in  Abbd  Casgrain's  interesting  Me  de 
Marie  de  I' Incarnation.     It  was  burned  in  1G86. 

'^  The  first  stone  of  Notre  Dame  de  Quebec  was  laid  in  Septcmljer, 
1647,  and  the  first  mass  was  said  in  it  on  tlie  2-ltli  of  December,  1(150. 
The  side  walls  still  remain  as  part  of  the  present  structure.  The  Jesuit 
college  was  also  begun  in  1647.  The  walls  and  roof  were  finished  in 
1649.  The  church  connected  with  it,  since  des«.royed,  was  begun  in 
1666.     Journal  des  j€smtes. 


240  TIIK   NEW  HOME.  [1665-72. 

iipproacliing  Three  Rivers,  a  fur-trading  hamlet 
enclosed  with  a  square  palisade.  Above  this  place, 
a  line  of  incipient  seigniories  bordered  the  river, 
most  of  them  granted  to  officers  :  Laubia,  a  captain ; 
Labadie,  a  sergeant ;  Moras,  an  ensign ;  Berthier, 
a  captain ;  Raudin,  an  ensign ;  La  A^'alterie,  a  lieu- 
tenant.^ Under  their  auspices,  settlers,  military 
dnd  civilian,  were  ranging  themselves  along  the 
shore,  and  ugly  gaps  in  the  forest  thickly  set  Avith 
stumps  bore  witness  to  their  toils.  These  settle- 
ments rapidly  extended,  till  in  a  few  years  a  chain 
of  houses  and  clearings  reached  with  little  inter- 
ruption from  Quebec  to  Montreal.  Such  was  the 
fruit  of  Tracy's  chastisement  of  the  Mohawks,  and 
the  influx  of  immig-rants  that  followed. 

As  you  approached  Montreal,  the  fortified  mill 
built  by  the  Sulpitians  at  Point  aux  Trembles 
towered  above  the  woods ;  and  soon  after  the  newly 
built  chapel  of  the  Infant  Jesus.  More  settlements 
followed,  till  at  length  the  great  fortified  mill  of 
Montreal  rose  in  sight ;  then  the  long  row  of  com- 
pact wooden  houses,  the  Hotel  Dieu,  and  the  rough 
masonry  of  the  seminary  of  St.  Sulpice.  Beyond 
the  town,  the  clearings  continued  at  intervals  till 
you  reached  Lake  St.  Louis,  where  young  Cavelier 
de  la  Salle  had  laid  out  his  seigniory  of  La  Chine, 
and  abandoned  it  to  begin  his  hard  career  of  west- 
ern exploration.     Above  the  island  of  Montreal, 


1  Documents  on  the  Seigniorial  Tenure ;  Abstracts  of  Titles.  Most  of 
these  grants,  like  those  on  the  Richelieu,  were  made  by  Talon  in  1672 ; 
but  the  land  had,  in  many  cases,  been  occupied  and  cleared  in  anticipation 
of  the  title. 


1665-72.1  THE  PIONEERS.  241 

the  wilderness  was  broken  only  by  a  solitary  trading 
station  on  the  neiorhborino;  Isle  Perot. 

Now  cross  Lake  St.  Louis,  shoot  the  rapids  of 
La  Chine,  and  foUow  the  southern  shore  downward. 
Here  the  seigniories  of  Longueuil,  Boucherville, 
Varennes,  Vercheres,  and  Contrecoeur  were  already 
begun.  From  the  fort  of  Sorel  one  could  visit  the 
mihtary  seigniories  along  the  Richelieu  or  descend 
towards  Quebec,  passing  on  the  way  those  of  Lus- 
saudiere,  Becancour,  Lotbiniere,  and  others  still  in 
a  shapeless  infancy.  Even  far  below  Quebec,  at 
St.  Anne  de  la  Pocatiere,  River  Quelle,  and  other 
points,  cabins  and  clearings  greeted  the  eye  of  the 
passing  canoeman. 

For  a  year  or  two,  the  settler's  initiation  was  a 
rough  one;  but  when  he  had  a  few  acres  under 
tillage  he  could  support  himself  and  his  family  on 
the  produce,  aided  by  hunting,  if  he  knew  how  to 
use  a  gun,  and  by  the  bountiful  profusion  of  eels 
which  the  St.  Lawrence  never  failed  to  yield  in 
their  season,  and  which,  smoked  or  salted,  supplied 
his  larder  for  months.  Li  winter  he  hewed  timber, 
sawed  planks,  or  split  shingles  for  the  market  of 
Quebec,  obtaining  in  return  such  necessaries  as  he 
required.  With  thrift  and  hard  work  he  was  sure 
of  comfort  at  last ;  but  the  former  habits  of  the 
military  settlers  and  of  many  of  the  others  were 
not  favorable  to  a  routine  of  dogged  industry.  The 
sameness  and  solitude  of  their  new  life  often  became 
insufferable ;  nor,  married  as  they  had  been,  was 
the  domestic  hearth  likely  to  supply  much  consola- 
tion.    Yet,  thrifty  or  not,  they  multiplied  a]iace. 

16 


242  THE  NEW  HOME.  11665-72 

"  A  poor  man,"  says  Mother  Mary,  "  will  have  eight 
cliildren  and  more,  who  run  about  in  winter  with 
bare  heads  and  bare  feet,  and  a  little  jacket  on 
their  backs,  live  on  nothing  but  bread  and  eels, 
and  on  that  grow  fat  and  stout."  With  such  treat- 
ment the  weaker  sort  died ;  but  the  strong  sur- 
vived, and  out  of  this  rugged  nursing  sj)rang  the 
hardy  Canadian  race  of  bush-rangers  and  bush- 
fighters. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

1G63-1763. 

CANADIAN   FEUDALISM. 

Transplant AtiON  ok  Feudalism.  —  Precautions.  — Faiih  and  Hoi* 
AGE.  —  The  Seignior.  —  The  Censitaire.  —  Royal  Intekves 
TiON.  —  The  Gentilhomme.  —  Canadian  Noblesse. 

Canadian  society  was  beginning  to  form  itself, 
and  at  its  base  was  the  feudal  tenure.  European 
feudalism  was  the  indigenous  and  natural  growth 
of  political  and  social  conditions  which  preceded  it, 
Canadian  feudalism  was  an  offshoot  of  the  feudalism 
of  France,  modified  by  the  lapse  of  centuries,  and 
further  modified  by  the  royal  will. 

In  France,  as  in  the  rest  of  Europe,  the  system 
had  lost  its  vitality.  The  warrior-nobles  who  placed 
Hugh  Capet  on  the  throne,  and  began  the  feudal 
monarchy,  formed  an  aristocratic  republic,  and  the 
king  was  one  of  their  nmnber,  whom  they  chose  to 
be  their  chief.  But,  through  the  struggles  and 
vicissitudes  of  many  succeeding  reigns,  royalty  had 
waxed  and  oligarchy  had  waned.  The  fact  had 
changed  and  the  theory  had  changed  with  it.  The 
king,  once  powerless  among  a  host  of  turbulent 
nobles,  was  now  a  king  indeed.     Once  a  chief, 


2ii  CANADIAN  FEUDALISM.  [1663-1763 

because  his  equals  had  made  hhn  so,  he  was  now 
the  anointed  of  the  Lord.  This  triumj)h  of  royalty 
had  culminated  in  Louis  XIV.  The  stormy  ener- 
gies and  bold  individualism  of  the  old  feudal  nobles 
had  ceased  to  exist.  They  who  had  held  his  pre- 
decessors in  awe  had  become  his  obsequious  ser- 
vants. He  no  longer  feared  his  nobles;  he  prized 
them  as  gorgeous  decorations  of  his  court,  and 
satellites  of  his  royal  person. 

r  It  was  Kichelieu  who  first  planted  feudalism  m 
Canada.^  The  king  would  preserve  it  there,  because 
with  its  teeth  drawn  he  was  fond  of  it,  and  because, 
as  the  feudal  tenure  prevailed  in  Old  France,  it 
was  natural  that  it  should  prevail  also  in  the  New. 
But  he  continued  as  Richelieu  had  begun,  and 
moulded  it  to  the  form  that  pleased  him.  Nothing 
was  left  which  could  threaten  his  absolute  and 
undivided  authority  over  the  colony.  In  France, 
a  multitude  of  privileges  and  prescriptions  still 
ckmg,  despite  its  fall,  about  the  ancient  ruling 
class.  Few  of  these  were  allowed  to  cross  the 
Atlantic,  while  the  old,  lingering  abuses,  which 
had  made  the  system  odious,  were  at  the  same 
time  lopped  away.  Thus  retrenched,  Canadian 
feudalism  was  made  to  serve  a  double  end ;  to 
produce  a  faint  and  harmless  reflection  of  French 
aristocracy,  and  simply  and  practically  to  supply 
agencies  for  distributing  land  among  the  settlers. 

The  nature  of  the  precautions  which  it  was  held 
to  require  appear  in  the  plan  of  administration 
which  Talon  and  Tracy  laid  before  the  minister. 

'  By  the  charter  of  the  Company  of  the  Hundred  Associates,  1627. 


1663-1763.]  PRECAUTIONS.  245 

They  urge  that,  in  view  of  the  distance  from 
France,  special  care  ought  to  be  taken  to  prevent 
changes  and  revolutions,  aristocratic  or  otherwise, 
in  the  colony,  whereby  in  time  sovereign  jurisdic- 
tions might  grow  up,  as  formerly  occurred  in 
various  parts  of  France.^  And,  in  respect  to  grants 
already  made,  an  inquiry  was  ordered,  to  ascertain 
"  if  seigniors  in  distributing  lands  to  their  vassala 
have  exacted  any  conditions  injurious  to  the  rights 
of  the  Crown  and  the  subjection  due  solely  to  the 
king."  In  the  same  view  the  seignior  was  denied 
any  voice  whatever  in  the  direction  of  government ; 
and  it  is  scarcely  necessary  to  say  that  the  essen- 
tial feature  of  feudalism  in  the  day  of  its  vitality, 
the  requirement  of  military  service  by  the  lord 
from  the  vassal,  was  utterly  unknown  in  Canada. 
The  royal  governor  called  out  the  militia  whenever 
he  saw  fit,  and  set  over  it  what  officers  he  pleased. 
The  seignior  was  usually  the  immediate  vassal 
of  the  Crown,  from  which  he  had  received  his 
land  gratuitously.  In  a  few  cases,  he  made  grants 
to  other  seigniors  inferior  in  the  feudal  scale,  and 
they,  his  vassals,  granted  in  turn  to  their  vassals, 
the  habitants  or  cultivators  of  the  soil.^     Sometunes 

1  Projet  de  Eeglemertt  fait  par  MM.  de.  Tracrj  et  Talon  pour  la  justice  et 
la  distribution  dcs  terns  du  Canada,  Jan.  24,  1G07. 

'^  Most  of  tlie  seigniories  of  Canada  were  simple  fiefs;  but  there  were 
Bome  exceptions.  In  1G71,  tlie  king,  as  a  mark  of  lionor  to  Talon,  erected 
his  seigniory  Des  Islets  into  a  barony  ;  and  it  was  soon  afterwards  made 
an  earldom,  couilt^  In  167G,  the  seigniory  of  St.  Laurent,  on  tlie  island 
of  Orleans,  once  the  property  of  Laval,  and  then  belonging  to  Fran(,-oi« 
Berlhelot,  councillor  of  the  king,  was  erected  into  an  earldom.  In  1681, 
the  seigniory  of  I'ortneuf,  belonging  to  Rend  Robineau,  chevalier,  waa 
made  a  barony.  In  1700,  three  seigniories  on  the  south  side  of  tlie  St- 
Lawrence  were  united  into  the  barony  of  Lcngueuil.  See  Papers  on 
the  Feudal  Tenure  in  Canada,  Abstract  of  Titles. 


246  CANADIAN  FEUDALISM.  [1663-1768. 

the  hahitant  held  directly  of  the  Cro^vn,  in  which 
case  there  was  no  step  between  the  highest  and 
lowest  degrees  of  the  feudal  scale.  The  seignior 
held  by  the  tenure  of  faith  and  homage,  the  hahi- 
tani  by  the  inferior  tenure  en  censive.  Faith  and 
homage  were  rendered  to  the  Crown  or  other 
feudal  superior  whenever  the  seigniory  changed 
hands,  or,  in  the  case  of  seigniories  held  by  cor- 
porations, after  long  stated  intervals.  The  follow- 
ing is  an  example,  drawn  from  the  early  days  of  the 
colony,  of  the  performance  of  this  ceremony  by 
the  owner  of  a  fief  to  the  seignior  who  had  granted 
it  to  him.  It  is  that  of  Jean  Guion,  vassal  of  Gif- 
fard,  seignior  of  Beauport.  The  act  recounts  how, 
in  presence  of  a  notary,  Guion  presented  himself 
at  the  principal  door  of  the  manor-house  of  Beau- 
port;  how,  having  knocked,  one  Boulle,  farmer  of 
Giffard,  opened  the  door,  and  in  reply  to  Guion's 
question  if  the  seignior  was  at  home,  repUed  that 
he  was  not,  but  that  he,  Boulle,  was  empowered 
to  receive  acknowledgments  of  faith  and  homage 
from  the  vassals  in  his  name.  "  After  the  which 
reply,"  proceeds  the  act,  "  the  said  Guion,  being 
at  the  principal  door,  placed  himself  on  his  knees 
on  the  ground,  with  head  bare,  and  Avithout  sword 
or  spurs,  and  said  three  times  these  words :  "  Mon- 
sieur de  Beauport,  Monsieur  de  Beauport,  Monsieur 
de  Beauport,  I  bring  you  the  faith  and  homage 
which  I  am  bound  to  bring  you  on  account  of  my 
fief  Du  Buisson,  which  I  hold  as  a  man  of  faith  of 
your  seigniory  of  Beauport,  declaring  that  I  offer 
to  pay  my  seigniorial  and  feudal  dues  in   their 


1663-1763.]  FAITH  AND  HOMAGE.  247 

season,  and  demanding  of  you  to  accept  me  in 
faith  and  homage  as  aforesaid."^ 

The  following  instance  is  the  more  common  one 
of  a  seignior  holding  directlj^  of  the  Crown.  It  is 
widely  separated  from  the  first  in  point  of  time, 
having  occurred  a  year  after  the  army  of  Wolfe 
entered  Quebec.  Philippe  Noel  had  lately  died, 
and  Jean  Noel,  his  son,  inherited  his  seigniory  of 
Tilly  and  Bonsecours.  To  make  the  title  good, 
faith  and  homage  must  be  renewed.  Jean  Noel 
wa,s  under  the  bitter  necessity  of  rendering  this 
duty  to  General  Murray,  governor  for  the  king  of 
Great  Britain.  The  form  is  the  same  as  in  the 
case  of  Guion,  more  than  a  century  before.  Noel 
repairs  to  the  Government  House  at  Quebec,  and 
knocks  at  the  door.  A  servant  opens  it.  Noel 
asks  if  the  governor  is  there.  The  servant  replies 
that  he  is.  Murray,  informed  of  the  visitor's  object, 
comes  to  the  door,  and  Noel  then  and  there,  "  with- 
out sword  or  spurs,  with  bare  head,  and  one  knee  on 
the  ground,"  repeats  the  acknowledgment  of  fnith 
and  homage  for  his  seigniory.  He  Avas  compelled, 
however,  to  add  a  detested  innovation,  the  oath  of 
fidelity  to  his  Britannic  Majesty,  coupled  with  a 
pledge  to  keep  his  vassals  in  obedience  to  the  new 
sovereign.^ 

The  seignior  was  a  proprietor  holding  that  rela- 
tion to  the  feudal  superior  which,  in  its  pristine 

1  Ferland,  Notes  snr  les  Regiatres  de  Noire  Dame  de  Quebec,  66.  Tliis 
Was  K  fief  en  ro^wre,  as  distinguished  from  a  yTe/noWe,  to  whicli  judicial 
powers  and  other  privileges  were  attached. 

2  See  tlie  act  in  Observations  de  Sir  L.  11.  Lafontaine,  Jiart.,  sttr  la  Ttnurt 
SeignenriaJc,  217,  note. 


248  CANADIAN  FEUDALISM.  [1603^1763 

chara(.'tcr,  has  been  truly  described  as  servile  in 
form,  proud  and  bold  in  spirit.  But  in  Canada 
this  bold  spirit  was  very  far  from  being  strength- 
ened by  the  changes  which  the  policy  of  the  Crown 
had  introduced  into  the  system.  The  reservation 
of  mines  and  minerals,  oaks  for  the  royal  navy, 
roadways,  and  a  site,  if  needed,  for  royal  forts 
and  magazines,  had  in  it  nothing  extraordinary. 
The  great  difference  between  the  position  of  the 
Canadian  seignior  and  that  of  the  vassal  proprietor 
of  the  Middle  Ages  lay  in  the  extent  and  nature 
of  the  control  which  the  Crown  and  its  officers 
held  over  him.  A  decree  of  the  king,  an  edict  of 
the  council,  or  an  ordinance  of  the  intendant, 
might  at  any  moment  change  old  conditions,  imppse 
new  ones,  interfere  between  the  lord  of  the  manor 
and  his  grantees,  and  modify  or  annul  his  bargains, 
past  or  present.  He  was  never  sure  whether  or  not 
the  government  would  let  him  alone ;  and  against 
its  most  arbitrary  intervention  he  had  no  remedy. 

One  condition  was  imposed  on  him  which  may 
be  said  to  form  the  distinctive  feature  of  Canadian 
feudalism ;  that  of  clearing  his  land  within  a  limited 
time  on  pain  of  forfeiting  it.  The  object  was  the 
excellent  one  of  preventing  the  lands  of  the  colony 
from  lying  waste.  As  the  seignior  was  often  the 
penniless  owner  of  a  domain  three  or  four  leagues 
wide  and  proportionably  deep,  he  could  not  clear 
it  all  himself,  and  was  therefore  under  the  neces- 
sity of  placing  the  greater  part  in  the  hands  of 
those  who  could.  But  he  was  forbidden  to  sell 
any  part  of  it  which  he  had  not  cleared.     He  must 


1663-1763.]  THE   CENSITAIRE.  249 

grant  it  without  price,  on  condition  of  a  small  per- 
petual rent ;  and  this  brings  us  to  the  cultivator  of 
the  soil,  the  censitaire,  the  broad  base  of  the  feudal 
p^-ramid.^ 

The  tenure  en  censive  by  which  the  censitaire 
held  of  the  seignior  consisted  in  the  obligation  to 
make  annual  payments  in  money,  produce,  or  both. 
In  Canada  these  payments,  known  as  cens  et  rente, 
w^ere  strangely  diverse  in  amount  and  kind ;  but. 
in  all  the  early  period  of  the  colony,  they  were 
almost  ludicrously^  small.  A  connnon  charge  at 
Montreal  w\as  half  a  sou  and  half  a  pint  of  Avheat 
for  each  arpent.  The  rate  usually  fluctuated  in 
the  early  times  between  half  a  sou  and  two  sous, 
so  that  a  farm  of  a  hundred  and  sixty  arpents 
would  pay  from  four  to  sixteen  francs,  of  which  a 
part  would  be  in  money  and  the  rest  in  live  capons, 
wheat,  eggs,  or  all  three  together,  in  pursuance  of 
contracts  as  amusing  in  their  precision  as  they  are 
bemldering  in  their  variety.      Live   capons,  esti- 

1  The  greater  part  of  tlie  grants  made  by  the  old  Company  of  New 
France  were  resumed  by  the  Crown  for  neglect  to  occupy  and  improve 
the  land,  whicli  was  granted  out  anew  under  tiie  administration  of  Talon. 
The  most  remarkable  of  these  forfeited  grants  is  that  of  the  vast  domain 
Df  La  Citicre,  large  enough  for  a  kingdom.  Lauson,  afterwards  governor, 
had  obtained  it  from  the  company,  but  had  failed  to  improve  it.  Two  or 
three  sub-grants  wliich  he  had  made  from  it  were  held  valid ;  the  rest 
was  reunited  to  the  royal  domain.  On  repeated  occasions  at  later  dates, 
negligent  seigniors  were  threatened  with  the  loss  of  iialf  or  the  whole  of 
their  land,  and  various  cases  are  recordeil  in  wiiicli  the  threat  took  effect. 
In  1741,  an  ordinance  of  the  governor  and  intcndant  reunited  to  the  royal 
domain  seventeen  seigniories  at  one  stroke ;  but  the  former  owners  were 
told  tliat  if  within  a  j-ear  they  cleared  and  settled  a  reasonable  part  of  the 
forfeited  estates,  the  titles  should  be  restored  to  them.  Editx  et  Ordon- 
nances,  II.  555.  In  the  case  of  the  habitant  or  censitnirt  forfeitures  for 
neglect  to  improve  the  land  and  livv?  on  it  are  very  numerous. 


250  CANADIAN  FEUDALISM.  [16G3-1763 

mated  at  twenty  sous  each,  though  sometimes  not 
worth  ten,  form  a  conspicuous  feature  in  these 
agreements,  so  that  on  pay-day  the  seignior's  barn- 
yard presented  an  animated  scene.  Later  in  the 
hi.story  of  the  colony  grants  were  at  somewhat 
higher  rates.  Payment  was  commonly  made  on 
St.  Martin's  day,  when  there  was  a  general  muster 
of  tenants  at  the  seigniorial  mansion,  with  a  pro- 
digious consumption  of  tobacco  and  a  corresponding 
retail  of  neighborhood  gossip,  joined  to  the  out- 
cries of  the  captive  fowls  bundled  together  for 
deliver}^,  with  legs  tied,  but  throats  at  full  liberty. 

A  more  considerable  but  a  very  uncertain  source 
of  income  to  the  seignior  were  the  lods  et  venfes, 
or  mutation  fines.  The  land  of  the  censitaire 
passed  freely  to  his  heirs ;  but  if  he  sold  it,  a 
twelfth  part  of  the  purchase-money  must  be  paid 
to  the  seignior.  The  seignior,  on  his  part,  was 
equally  liable  to  pay  a  mutation  fine  to  his  feudal 
superior  if  he  sold  his  seigniory ;  and  for  hmi  the 
amount  was  larger,  being  a  quint,  or  a  fifth  of  the 
price  received,  of  which,  however,  the  greater  part 
was  deducted  for  immediate  payment.  This  heavy 
charge,  constituting,  as  it  did,  a  tax  on  all  improve- 
ments, was  a  principal  cause  of  the  abolition  of  the 
feudal  tenure  in  1854. 

The  oblio-ation  of  clearins;  his  land  and  livino;  on 
it  was  laid  on  seignior  and  censitaire  alike ;  but 
the  latter  was  under  a  variety  of  other  Oijligations 
to  the  former,  partly  imposed  by  custom  and  partly 
established  by  agreement  when  the  grant  was 
made.     To  grind  his  grain  at  the  seignior's  mill, 


1663-1763.]  ROYAL  INTER VENTIOIS,  251 

bake  his  bread  in  the  seignior's  oven,  Tvork  lor  him 
one  or  more  days  in  the  year,  and  give  him  one 
fish  in  every  eleven,  for  tlie  privilege  of  fishing  in 
the  river  before  his  farm;  these  were  the  most 
annoying  of  the  conditions  to  which  the  censiiaire 
was  liable.  Few  of  them  were  enforced  with  much 
reguliirity.  That  of  baking  in  the  seignior's  oven 
was  rarely  carried  into  effect,  though  occasionally 
used  for  purposes  of  extortion.  It  is  here  that  the 
royal  government  appears  in  its  true  character,  so 
far  as  concerns  its  relations  "vvith  Canada,  that  of  a 
well-meaning  despotism.  It  continually  intervened 
between  censitaire  and  seignior,  on  the  principle 
that  "  as  his  Majesty  gives  the  land  for  nothing,  he 
can  make  what  conditions  he  pleases,  and  change 
them  when  he  pleases."  ^  These  interventions 
were  usually  favorable  to  the  censitaire.  On  one 
occasion  an  intendant  reported  to  the  minister, 
that  in  his  opinion  all  rents  ought  to  be  reduced 
to  one  sou  and  one  live  capon  for  every  arpent 
of  front,  equal  in  most  ca,ses  to  forty  superficial 
arpents.^.  Every  thing,  he  remarks,  ought  to  be 
brought  down  to  the  level  of  the  first  grants 
"  made  in  days  of  innocence,"  a  happy  period 
which  he  does  not  attempt  to  define.  The  minister 
replies  that  the  diversity  of  the  rent  is,  in  fact, 
vexatious,  and  that,  for  his  part,  he  is  disposed  to 
abolish  it'alto2:etlier.^  Neither  he  nor  the  intend- 
ant  gives  the  slightest  hint  of  any  compensation 

1  This  doctrine  is  laid  down  in  ii  letter  of  the  Slarquis  de  Beauliaraois, 
governor,  to  the  minister,  1734. 

2  Letlra  de  Rnndot,  pere,  au  Afinistre,  10  Xo7>.,  1707. 

'  Letlre  de  Ponchartrain  a  Raudot,  pere,  13  Juin,  1708. 


252  CANADIAN  FEUDALISM.  [1603-1763 

to  the  seignior.  Though  these  radical  measures 
were  not  executed,  many  changes  were  decreed 
from  time  to  time  in  the  relations  between  seignior 
and  censitaire,  sometimes  as  a  simple  act  of  sover- 
eign power,  and  sometimes  on  the  ground  that  the 
p:;rants  had  been  made  with  conditions  not  recoo;- 
nized  by  the  Coutume  de  Paris.  This  was  the 
code  of  law  assigned  to  Canada ;  but  most  of  the 
contracts  between  seignior  and  censitaire  had  been 
agreed  upon  in  good  faith  by  men  who  knew  as 
much  of  the  Coutume  de  Paris  as  of  the  Capitula- 
ries of  Charlemagne,  and  their  conditions  had 
remained  in  force   unchalleno-ed  for   venerations. 

o  o 

These  interventions  of  government  sometimes  con- 
tradicted each  other,  and  often  proved  a  dead 
letter.  They  are  more  or  less  active  through  the 
whole  period  of  the  French  rule. 

The  seignior  had  judicial  powers,  which,  how- 
ever, were  carefullv  curbed  and  controlled.  His 
jurisdiction,  when  exercised  at  all,  extended  in 
most  cases  only  to  trivial  causes.  He  very  rarely 
had  a  prison,  and  seems  never  to  have  abused  it. 
The  dignity  of  a  seigniorial  gallows  with  high 
justice  or  jurisdiction  over  heinous  offences  Avas 
granted  only  in  three  or  four  instances.^ 

Four  arpents  in  front  by  forty  in  depth  were 
the  ordinary  dimensions  of  a  grant  en  censive. 
These  ribbons  of  land,  nearly  a  mile  and  a  half 
long,  with  one  end  on  the  river  and  the  other  on 

•  Baronies  and  comt^s  were  empowered  to  set  up  gallows  and  pillories, 
to  whicli  the  arms  of  the  owner  were  affixed.  See,  for  example,  the  edict 
creating  the  Barony  des  Islets. 


1663-1763.1  THE  HABITANT.  253 

the  uplands  behind,  usually  combined  the  advan- 
tages of  meadows  for  cidtivation,  and  forests  for 
timber  and  firewood.  So  long  as  the  censitaire 
brought  in  on  St.  Martin's  day  his  yearly  capon.:! 
and  his  yearly  handful  of  copper,  liis  title  against 
the  seignior  was  perfect.  There  are  farms  in 
Canada  which  have  passed  from  father  to  son  for 
two  hundred  years.  The  condition  of  the  culti- 
vator was  incomparably  better  than  that  of  the 
French  peasant,  crushed  by  taxes,  and  oppressed 
by  feudal  burdens  far  heavier  than  those  of  Canada. 
In  fact,  the  Canadian  settler  scorned  the  name  of 
peasant,  and  then,  as  now,  was  always  called  the 
habitant.  The  government  held  him  in  wardship, 
watched  over  him,  interfered  with  him,  but  did 
not  oppress  him  or  allow  others  to  opj^ress  him. 
Canada  was  not  governed  to  the  profit  of  a  class, 
and  if  the  king  wished  to  create  a  Canadian  noblesse 
he  took  care  that  it  shoidd  not  bear  hard  on  the 
country.' 

Under  a  genuine  feudalism,  the  ownership  of 
land  conferred  nobility ;  but  all  this  was  changed. 
The  king  and  not  the  soil  was  now  the  parent  of 
honor.  France  swarmed  with  landless  nobles,  while 
roturier  land-holders  grew  daily  more  numei'ous. 
In  Canada  half  the  seigniories  were  in  roturier  or 
plebeian  hands,  and  in  course  of  time  some  of  them 

1  On  the  seigniorial  tenure,  I  liave  examined  the  whole  of  the  mass 
of  papers  printeil  at  the  time  wlicn  tlie  question  of  its  abolition  was  iiniler 
discussion.  A  great  deal  of  legal  research  and  learning  was  tlien  devoted 
to  the  subject.  The  argument  of  Mr.  Dunkin  in  behalf  of  the  seigniors, 
and  the  observations  of  Judge  Lafontaine,  are  especially  instructive,  as  is 
also  the  collected  corresj)ondonce  of  tlie  governors  and  intendants  with 
the  central  government,  on  matters  relating  to  the  seigniorial  system. 


254  CANADIAN  FEUDALISM.  [1663-176Jt 

came  into  possession  of  persons  on  very  humble 
degrees  of  the  social  scale.  A  seigniory  could  be 
bought  and  sold,  and  a  trader  or  a  thrifty  habitant 
might,  and  often  did  become  the  buyer.^  If  the 
Canadian  noble  was  always  a  seignior,  it  is  far  from 
being  true  that  the  Canadian  seignior  was  always 
a  noble. 

In  France,  it  will  be  remembered,  nobility  did 
not  in  itself  imply  a  title.  Besides  its  titled  leaders, 
it  had  its  rank  and  file,  numerous  enough  to  form 
a  considerable  army.  Under  the  later  Bourbons, 
the  penniless  young  nobles  were,  in  fact,  enrolled 
into  regiments,  turbulent,  difficult  to  control,  obey- 
ing officers  of  high  rank,  but  scorning  all  others, 
and  conspicuous  by  a  fiery  and  impetuous  valor 
which  on  more  than  one  occasion  turned  the  tide 
of  victory.  The  gentilhoinme,  or  untitled  noble, 
had  a  distinctive  character  of  his  own,  gallant, 
punctilious,  vain ;  skilled  in  social  and  sometimes 
in  literary  and  artistic  accomplishments,  but  usually 
ignorant  of  most  things  except  the  handling  of  his 
rapier.  Yet  there  were  striking  exceptions ;  and 
to  say  of  him,  as  has  been  said,  that  "  he  knew 
nothing  but  how  to  get  himself  killed,"  is  hardly 
just  to  a  body  which  has  produced  some  of  the 
best  writers  and  tliinkers  of  France. 

Sometimes  the  origin  of  his  nobility  was  lost  in 

'  In  1712,  the  engineer  Catalogne  made  a  very  long  and  elaborate  re- 
port on  the  condition  of  Canada,  with  a  full  account  of  all  tlie  seigniorial 
estates.  Of  ninety-one  seigniories,  fiefs,  and  baronies,  described  by  hira, 
ten  belonged  to  merchants,  twelve  to  husbandmen,  and  two  to  masters  of 
small  river  craft.  The  rest  belonged  to  religious  corporations,  members 
of  the  council,  judges,  officials  of  the  Crown,  widows,  and  discharged 
officers  or  their  sous. 


lt363-1763.1  CANADIAN?  NOBLESSE.  255 

the  mists  of  time  ;  sometimes  he  owed  it  to  a  patent 
from  the  king.  In  either  case,  the  Kne  of  cleix  arca- 
iion  between  him  and  the  classes  below  him  was 
perfectly  distinct;  and  in  this  lies  an  essential 
difference  between  the  French  noblesse  and  the 
English  gentry,  a  class  not  separated  from  others 
by  a  definite  barrier.  The  French  noblesse,  unlike 
the  English  gentry,  constituted  a  caste. 

The  gentilhomme  had  no  vocation  for  emigrating. 
He  liked  the  army  and  he  liked  the  court.  If  he 
could  not  be  of  it,  it  was  something  to  live  in  its 
shadow.  The  life  of  a  backwoods  settler  had  no 
charm  for  him.  He  was  not  used  to  labor ;  and 
he  could  not  trade,  at  least  in  retail,  without  be- 
coming liable  to  forfeit  his  nobility.  When  Talon 
came  to  Canada,  there  were  but  four  noble  families 
in  the  colony.^  Young  nobles  in  abundance  came 
out  with  Tracy;  but  they  went  home  Avith  him. 
Where,  then,  should  be  found  the  material  of  a 
Canadian  noblesse  f  First,  in  the  regiment  of 
Carignan,  of  which  most  of  the  officers  were  gen- 
tilshommes ;  secondly,  in  the  issue  of  patents  of 
nobility  to  a  few  of  the  more  prominent  colonists. 
Tracy  asked  for  four  such  patents ;  Talon  asked 
for  five  more ;  ^  and  such  requests  were  repeated 
at  intervals  by  succeeding  governors  and  intend- 
ants,  in  behalf  of  those  who  had  gained  their  favor 
by  merit  or  otherwise.     Money  smoothed  the  path 

^  Talon,  M€inoirc  siir  I'Etat  present  du  Caiuuhi,  1GG7.  The  families  of 
Repentigny,  Tilly,  Poterie,  and  Aillcbout  apiicar  to  be  meant. 

2  Tracy's  request  was  in  behalf  of  Bourdon,  Boucher,  Auteuil,  and 
Juchereau.  Talon's  was  in  behalf  of  Godefroy,  Le  Moyne,  Denis,  Amioti 
and  Couillard. 


2-j6  CANADIAN   FEUDALISM.  [lCi:;:-17C3. 

to  advancement,  so  far  had  noblesse  already  fallen 
from  its  old  estate.  Thus  Jacques  Le  Ber,  the 
merchant,  who  had  long  kept  a  shop  at  Montreal, 
got  himself  made  a  gentleman  for  six  thousand 
livres.^ 

All  Canada  soon  became  infatuated  with  nohlesse; 
and  country  and  town,  merchant  and  seignior,  vied 
with  each  other  for  the  quality  of  gentilhoimne. 
If  they  could  not  get  it,  they  often  pretended  to 
have  it,  and  aped  its  ways  with  the  zeal  of  Mon- 
sieur Jourdain  himself.  "  Everybody  here,"  writes 
the  intendant  Meules,  "  calls  himself  Esquire,  and 
ends  with  thinking  himself  a  gentleman."  Succes- 
sive intendants  repeat  this  complaint.  The  case 
was  worst  with  ro turners  who  had  acquired  seign- 
iories. Thus  Noel  Langlois  was  a  good  carpenter 
till  he  became  owner  of  a  seigniory,  on  wliich  he 
grew  lazy  and  affected  to  play  the  gentleman. 
The  real  gentilshommes,  as  well  as  the  spurious, 
had  their  full  share  of  official  stricture.  The  gov- 
ernor Denonville  speaks  of  them  thus :  "  Several 
of  them  have  come  out  this  year  with  their  wives, 
who  are  very  much  cast  down ;  but  they  play  the 
fine  lady,  nevertheless.  I  had  much  rather  see 
good  peasants ;  it  would  be  a  j)leasure  to  me  to 
give  aid  to  such,  knowing,  as  I  should,  that  within 
two  years  their  families  would  have  the  means  of 
living  at  ease  ;  for  it  is  certain  that  a  peasant  who 
can  and  will  work  is  well  off  in  this  country,  while 
our  nobles  with  nothing  to  do  can  never  be  any 
thing  but  beggars.      Still  they  ought  not  to  be 

I  Faillon,  Vie  de  Mademoiselle  Le  Ber,  325. 


1663-1763.]  CANADIAN  NOBLESSE.  257 

driven  off  or  abandoned.  The  question  is  how  to 
maintain  them."  ^ 

The  intendant  Duchesneau  writes  to  the  same 
effect :  "  Many  of  our  ge7itilsJiommes,  officers,  and 
other  owners  of  seigniories,  lead  what  in  France  is 
called  the  life  of  a  country  gentleman,  and  spend 
most  of  their  time  in  hunting  and  fishing.  As 
their  requirements  in  food  and  clothing  are  greater 
than  those  of  the  simple  hahitants,  and  as  they  do 
not  devote  themselves  to  improving  their  land, 
they  mix  themselves  up  in  trade,  run  in  debt  on 
all  hands,  incite  their  young  hahitants  to  range  the 
woods,  and  send  their  own  children  there  to  trade 
for  furs  in  the  Indian  villages  and  in  the  depths  of 
the  forest,  in  spite  of  the  prohibition  of  his  Majesty. 
Yet,  with  all  this,  they  are  in  miserable  poverty."^ 

Their  condition,  indeed,  was  often  deplorable. 
"  It  is  pitiful,"  says  the  intendant  Champigny,  "  to 
see  their  children,  of  which  they  have  great  num- 
bers, passing  all  summer  with  nothing  on  them 
but  a  shirt,  and  their  wives  and  daughters  working 
in  the  fields."  ^  In  another  letter  he  asks  aid  from 
the  king  for  Repentigny  mth  his  thirteen  children, 
and  for  Tilly  with  his  fifteen.  "  We  must  give 
them  some  corn  at  once,"  he  says,  "  or  they  will 
starve."'*  These  were  two  of  the  original  four 
noble  families  of  Canada.  The  family  of  Aillebout, 
another  of  the  four,  is  described  as  equally  desti- 
tute.    "  Pride  and  sloth,"  says  the  same  intendant, 

1  Lettre  de  Denonville  au  Mimstre,  10  Nov.,  1686. 

2  Ltttre  de  Duchesneau  an  Afinistre,  10  Nov.,  1679. 
s  Lettre  de  Champitjnii  au  Afiiiistre,  26  Aout,  1687. 
*  Ibid.,  6  Nov..  1687.' 

17 


258  CANADIAN  FEUDALISM.  [1663-1763. 

"  are  the  great  faults  of  the  people  of  Canada,  and 
especially  of  the  nobles  and  those  who  pretend  to 
be  such.  I  pray  you  grant  no  more  letters  of 
nobility,  unless  you  want  to  multiply  beggars."  ^ 
The  governor  Denonville  is  still  more  emphatic: 
"  Above  all  things,  monseigneur,  permit  me  to  say 
that  the  nobles  of  this  new  country  are  every  thing 
that  is  most  beggarly,  and  that  to  incnase  their 
number  is  to  increase  the  number  of  do-nothuigs. 
A  new  country  requires  hard  workers,  who  will 
handle  the  axe  and  mattock.  The  sons  of  our 
councillors  are  no  more  industrious  than  the  nobles ; 
and  their  only  resource  is  to  take  to  the  woods, 
trade  a  little  with  the  Indians,  and,  for  the  most 
part,  fall  into  the  disorders  of  which  I  have  had 
the  honor  to  inform  3'ou.  I  shall  use  all  possible 
means  to  induce  them  to  engage  in  regular  com- 
merce ;  but  as  our  nobles  and  councillors  are  all 
very  poor  and  weighed  down  with  debt,  they  could 
not  get  credit  for  a  single  crown  piece."  ^  "  Two 
days  ago,"  he  writes  in  another  letter,  "  Monsieur 
de  Saint-Ours,  a  gentleman  of  Dauphiny,  came  to 
me  to  ask  leave  to  go  back  to  France  in  search  of 
bread.  He  says  that  he  Avill  put  his  ten  children 
into  the  charge  of  any  who  will  give  them  a  living, 
and  that  he  himseK  will  go  into  the  army  again. 
His  wife  and  he  are  in  despair ;  and  yet  they  do 
what  they  can.  I  have  seen  two  of  his  girls  reaping 
grain  and  holding  the  plough.     Other  families  are 

1  M^moire  instructif  stir  le  Canada,  joint  a  la  lettre  de  M.  de  Champigny  du 
10  May,  1691. 

2  Lettre  de  Denonville  au  Ministre,  13  Nov.,  1685. 


1663-1763.]  CANADIAN  NOBLESSE.  259 

in  the  same  condition.  They  come  to  me  with  tears 
in  their  eyes.  All  our  married  officers  are  beggars ; 
and  I  entreat  you  to  send  them  aid.  There  is  need 
that  the  king  should  provide  support  for  their  chil- 
dren, or  else  they  will  be  tempted  to  go  over  to  the 
English."  ^  Again  he  writes  that  the  sons  of  the 
councillor  D 'Amours  have  been  arrested  as  coiireurs 
de  hois,  or  outlaws  in  the  bush ;  and  that  if  the 
minister  does  not  do  something  to  help  them,  there 
is  danger  that  all  the  sons  of  the  noblesse,  real  or 
pretended,  will  turn  bandits,  since  they  have  no 
other  means  of  livino;. 

The  king,  dispenser  of  charity  for  all  Canada, 
came  promptly  to  the  rescue.  He  granted  an  alms 
of  a  hundred  crowns  to  each  family,  coupled  with 
a  warning  to  the  recipients  of  his  bounty  that 
"  their  misery  proceeds  from  their  ambition  to  live 
as  persons  of  quality  and  without  labor."  ^  At  the 
same  time,  the  minister  announced  that  no  more 
letters  of  nobility  would  be  granted  in  Canada ; 
adding,  "  to  relieve  the  country  of  some  of  the 
children  of  those  who  are  really  noble,  I  send  yon 
[the  governor)  six  commissions  of  Gardes  de  la 
Marine,  and  recommend  you  to  take  care  not  to 
give  them  to  any  who  are  not  actually  gent  Us- 
hommes."  The  Garde  de  la  Marine  answered  to 
the  midshipman  of  the  English  or  American  service. 
As  the  six  commissions  could  bring  little  relief  to 
the  crowd  of  needy  youths,  it  was  further  ordained 

^  Lettre  de  Denonville  an  Ministre,  10  Nov.,  168G.  (Condensed  in  the 
translation.) 

2  Abstract  of  Denonville's  Letters,  and  of  the  Minister's  Answers,  in 
^V.  y.  Colonial  Docs.,  IX.  317,  818. 


260  CANADIAN  FEUDALISM.  fl6G3-176a 

that  sons  of  nobles  or  persons  li\dng  as  such  should 
be  enrolled  into  companies  at  eight  sous  a*  day  for 
those  who  should  best  conduct  themselves,  and  six 
sous  a  day  for  the  others.  Nobles  in  Canada  were 
also  permitted  to  trade,  even  at  retail,  without 
derogating  from  their  rank.^ 

They  had  already  assumed  this  right,  without 
waiting  for  the  royal  license ;  but  thus  far  it  had 
profited  them  little.  The  gentilhomme  was  not  a 
good  shopkeeper,  nor,  as  a  rule,  was  the  shop- 
keeper's vocation  very  lucrative  in  Canada.  The 
domestic  trade  of  the  colony  was  small ;  and  all 
trade  Avas  exposed  to  such  vicissitudes  from  the 
intervention  of  intendants,  ministers,  and  councils, 
that  at  one  time  it  was  almost  banished.  At  best, 
it  was  carried  on  under  conditions  auspicious  to  a 
favored  few  and  witherino-  to  the  rest.  Even  when 
most  willing  to  work,  the  position  of  the  gentil- 
homme was  a  painful  one.  Unless  he  could  gain 
a  post  under  the  Crown,  which  was  rarely  the  case, 
he  was  as  complete  a  political  cipher  as  the 
meanest  hahitant.  His  rents  were  practically 
nothing,  and  he  had  no  capital  to  improve  his 
seigniorial  estate.  By  a  peasant's  work  he  could 
gain  a  peasant's  li^dng,  and  this  was  all.  The 
prospect  was  not  inspiring.  His  long  initiation  of 
misery  w\as  the  natural  result  of  his  position  and 
surrounding's  :  and  it  is  no  matter  of  wonder  that 
he  threw  himself  into  the  only  field  of  action 
which  in  time  of  peace  was  open  to  him.  It  was 
trade,  but  trade  seasoned  by  adventure  and  en- 

1  Leltre  de  Meules  au  Ministre,  1685. 


IGG3-1763.J  CANADIAN  NOBLESSE.  261 

nobled  by  danger ;  defiant  of  edict  and  ordinance, 
outlawed,  conducted  in  arms  among  forests  and 
savages,  —  in  short,  it  was  the  Western  fur  trade. 
The  tyro  was  hkely  to  fail  in  it  at  first,  but  time 
and  experience  formed  him  to  the  work.  On  the 
Great  Lakes,  in  the  wastes  of  the  Northwest,  on 
the  Mississippi  and  the  plains  beyond,  we  find  the 
roving  gentilhomme,  chief  of  a  gang  of  bush- 
rangers, often  his  own  habitants  ;  sometimes  pro- 
scribed by  the  government,  sometimes  leagued  in 
contraband  traffic  with  its  highest  officials,  a  hardy 
vidette  of  civilization,  ti-acino;  unknown  streams, 
piercing  unknown  forests,  trading,  fighting,  nego- 
tiating, and  building  forts.  Again  we  find  him  on 
the  shores  of  Acadia  or  Maine,  surrounded  by 
Indian  retainers,  a  menace  and  a  terror  to  the 
neighboring  English  colonist.  Saint-Castin,  Bu 
Lhut,  La  Durantaye,  La  Salle,  La  Motte-Cadillac, 
Iberville,  Bienville,  La  Verendrye,  are  names  that 
stand  conspicuous  on  the  page  of  half-savage 
romance  that  refreshes  the  hard  and  practical 
annals  of  American  colonization.  But  a  more  sub- 
stantial debt  is  due  to  their  memory.  It  was  they, 
and  such  as  they,  w^ho  discovered  the  Ohio,  ex- 
plored the  Mississippi  to  its  mouth,  discovered  the 
Bo(3ky  Mountains,  and  founded  Detroit,  St.  Louis, 
and  New  Orleans. 

Even  in  his  earliest  day,  the  gentilhoimne  was 
not  always  in  the  evil  pliglit  where  we  have  found 
him.  There  were  a  few  exceptions  to  the  general 
misery,  and  the  chief  among  them  is  that  of  the 
lie  Moynes  of  Montreal.     Charles  Le  Moyne,  son 


262  CANADIAN  FEUDALISM.  [1CG3-1763. 

of  an  innkeeper  of  Dieppe  and  founder  of  a  famil}' 
the  most  truly  eminent  in  Canada,  was  a  "man  of 
sterling  qualities  who  had  been  long  enough  in  the 
colony  to  learn  how  to  live  there.^  Others  learned 
the  same  lesson  at  a  later  day,  adapted  themselves 
to  soil  and  situation,  took  root,  grew,  and  became 
more  Canadian  than  French.  As  population  in- 
creased, their  seigniories  began  to  yield  appreciable 
returns,  and  their  reserved  domains  became  worth 
cultivating.  A  future  dawned  upon  them;  they 
saw  in  hope  their  names,  their  seigniorial  estates, 
their  manor-houses,  their  tenantry,  passing  to  their 
children  and  their  children's  children.  The  beg- 
gared noble  of  the  early  time  became  a  sturdy 
country  gentleman ;  poor,  but  not  wretched ;  igno- 
rant of  books,  except  possibly  a  few  scraps  of 
rusty  Latin  picked  up  in  a  Jesuit  school ;  hardy  as 
the  hardiest  woodsman,  yet  never  forgetting  his 
quality  of  gentilhomme ;  scrupulously  wearing  its 
badge,  the  sword,  and  copying  as  well  as  he  could 
the  fashions  of  the  court,  which  glowed  on  his 
vision  across  the  sea  in  all  the  effulgence  of  Ver- 
sailles, and  beamed  with  reflected  ray  from  the 
chateau  of  Quebec.  He  was  at  home  among  his 
tenants,  at  home  among  the  Indians,  and  never 
more  at  home  than  when,  a  gun  in  his  hand  and  a 
crucifix  on  his  breast,  he  took  the  war-path  with  a 

'  Berthelot,  proprietor  of  the  comt^  of  St.  Laurent,  and  Robineau,  of 
the  barony  of  Portneuf,  may  also  be  mentioned  as  exceptionally  pros- 
perous. Of  the  younger  Charles  Le  Moyne,  afterwards  Baron  de  Lon- 
gueuil,  Frontenac  the  governor  says,  "  son  fort  et  sa  maison  nous 
donnent  une  idee  des  chateaux  de  France  fortifiez."  His  fort  was  of 
Btone  and  flanked  with  four  towers.  It  was  nearly  opposite  Montreal,  on 
the  south  shore. 


1663-1763.]  CANADIAN   NOBLESSE.  •      263 

crew  of  painted  savages  and  Frenchmen  almost  as 
wild,  and  pomiced  like  a  lynx  from  the  forest  on 
some  lonely  farm  or  outlying  hamlet  of  New 
England.  How  New  England  hated  him,  let  her 
records  tell.  The  reddest  blood  streaks  on  her  old 
annals  mark  the  track  of  the  Canadian  gentil- 
homme. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

1663-1763. 
THE   RULERS   OF   CANADA. 

NiTUKE  OF  THE  GOVERNMENT. ThE  GoVEKNOR. ThE  CoUNCIL. 

Courts  and  Judges.  —  The  Intendant.  —  His  Grievances.  — 
Strong  Government.  —  Sedition  and  Blasphemy.  —  Rotai. 
Bounty,  —  Defects  and  Abuses. 

The  government  of  Canada  was  formed  in  its 
chief  features  after  the  government  of  a  French 
province.  Throughout  France  the  past  and  the 
present  stood  side  by  side.  The  kingdom  had  a 
double  administration;  or  rather,  the  shadow  of 
y  the  old  administration  and  the  substance  of  the 
new.  The  government  of  provinces  had  long 
been  held  by  the  high  nobles,  often  kindred  to  the 
Crown ;  and  hence,  in  former  tunes,  great  perils 
had  arisen,  amounting  during  the  civil  wars  to  the 
dano;er  of  dismemberment.  The  his-li  nobles  were 
still  governors  of  provinces ;  but  here,  as  else- 
where, they  had  ceased  to  be  dangerous.  Titles, 
honors,  and  ceremonial  they  had  in  abimdance ; 
but  they  were  deprived  of  real  power.  Close 
beside  them  was  the  royal  intendant,  an  obscure 
figure,  lost  amid  the  vainglories  of  the  feudal 
sunset,  but  in  the  name  of  the  king  holding  the 


1663-1763.]  GOVERNOR  AND   INTEND  ANT.  265 

reins  of  government;  a  check  and  a  spy  on  liis 
gorgeous  colleague.  He  was  the  king's  agent :  of 
modest  birth,  springing  from  the  legal  class ;  owing 
his  present  to  the  king,  and  dependent  on  him  for 
his  future  ;  learned  in  the  law  and  trained  to  ad- 
ministration. It  was  by  such  instruments  that  the 
powerful  centralization  of  the  monarchy  enforced 
itself  throughout  the  kingdom,  and,  penetrating 
beneath  the  crust  of  old  prescriptions,  supplanted 
without  seeming  to  supplant  them.  The  courtier 
noble  looked  down  in  the  pride  of  rank  on  the  busy 
man  in  black  at  his  side ;  but  this  man  in  black,  with- 
the  troop  of  officials  at  his  beck,  controlled  finance, 
the  royal  courts,  public  works,  and  all  the  admin- 
istrative business  of  the  province. 
/^The  governor-general  and  the  intendant  of 
Canada  answered  to  those  of  a  French  pro\dnce. 
The  governor,  excepting  in  the  earliest  period  of 
the  colony,  was  a  mihtary  noble;  in  most  cases 
bearing  a  title  and  sometimes  of  high  rank.  The 
intendant,  as  in  France,  was  usually  drawn  from 
the  gens  de  rohe,  or  legal  class.^  The  mutual  rela- 
tions of  the  two  officers  were  modified  by  the 
circumstances  about  them.  Tlie  governor  was 
superior^ in  rank  to  the  intendant;  he  conunanded 
the  Iroops,  conducted  relations  with  foreign  colo- 
nies and  Indian  tribes,  and  took  precedence  on  all 
occa,sions  of  ceremony.     Unlike  a  provincial  gov 


^  The  governor  was  styled  in  liis  commission,  Gouverneur  et  Lieutenant- 
G€n(^rnl  en  Canada,  Aradle,  hie  de  Terrenetive,  et  autres  ])ai/s  de  la  France 
Scptentrionale ;  .and  tlie  intend.int,  Intendant  de  la. Justice,  Police,  et  Fiuancet 
:n  Canada,  Acadie,  Terreneuve,  et  auties  pays  de  lu  France  Scjitcntriouale 


266-  THE  RULERS  OF  CANADA.  [1663-1763. 

ernor  in  France,  he  had  great  and  substantial 
power.  The  Idng  and  the  minister,  his  sole 
masters,  were  a  thousand  leagues  distant,  and  he 
controlled  the  whole  military  force.  If  he  abused 
liis  position,  there  was  no  remedy  but  in  appeal  to 
the  court,  which  alone  could  hold  him  in  check. 
There,  were  local  governors  at  Montreal  and_Three 
"'  Rivers;  but  their  power  was  carefully  curbed,  and 
5»^|^  they  were  forbidden  to  fine  or  imprison  any  person 
without  authority  from  Quebec.^ 

The  intendant  was  virtually  a  spy  on  the  gov- 
ernor-general, of  whose  proceedings  and  of  every 
thing  else  that  took  place  he  was  required  to  make 
report.  Every  year  he  wrote  to  the  minister  of 
state,  one,  two,  three,  or  four  letters,  often  forty  or 
fifty  pages  long,  filled  with  the  secrets  of  the  colony, 
political  and  personal,  great  and  small,  set  forth  with 
a  minuteness  often  interesting,  often  instructive, 
and  often  excessively  tedious.-  The  governor,  too, 
wrote  letters  of  pitiless  length ;  and  each  of  the 
colleagues  was  jealous  of  the  letters  of  the  other. 
In  truth,  their  relations  to  each  other  were  so  criti- 
caT,~and  perfect  harmony  so  rare,  that  they  might 
almost  be  described  as  natural  enemies.  The 
court,  it  is  certain,  did  not  desire  their  perfect 
accord  j  nor,  on  the  other  hand,  did  it  wish  them 
to  quarrel :  it  aimed  to  keep  them  on  such  terms 

1  The  Sulpitian  seigniors  of  Montreal  claimed  the  right  of  appointing 
their  own  local  governor.  This  was  denied  by  tlie  court,  and  the  ex- 
cellent Sulpitian  givernor,  Maisonneuve,  was  removed  by  De  Tracy,  to 
die  in  patient  obscurity  at  Paris.  Some  concessions  were  afterwards 
made  in  favor  of  the  Sulpitian  claims. 

2  I  have  carefully  read  about  two  thousand  pages  of  these  letters. 


1663-1763.]  THE   COUNCIL.  267 

that,  without  deranging  the  machinery  of  adinin 
istration,  each  should  be  a  check  on  the  other.^ 

The  governor,  the  intendant,  and  the  supreme 
jouncil  or  court,  were  absolute  masters  of  Canada 
under  the  pleasure  of  the  king.  Legislative,  judi- 
cial, and  executive  power,  all  centred  in  them. 
W^have  seen  already  the  very  unpromising  be- 
ginnings of  the  supreme  council.  It  had  consisted 
at  first  of  the  governor,  the  bishop,  and  five  coun 
cillors  chosen  by  them.  The  intendant  was  soon 
added  to  form  the  ruhng  triumvirate;  but  the 
appointment  of  the  councillors,  the  occasion  of  so 
many  quarrels,  was  afterwards  exercised  by  the 
king  himself.^  Even  the  name  of  the  council 
underwent  a  change  in  the  interest  of  his  autoc- 
racy, and  he  commanded  that  it  should  no  longer 
be  called  the  Siqweme^  but  only  the  Si(2)e7'ior 
Council.  The  same  change  had  just  been  imposed 
on  all  the  high  tribunals  of  France.^  Under  the 
shadow  of  the  fleur-de-lis,  the  king  alone  was  tc 
be  supreme. 

In  1675,  the  number  of  councillors  was  increased 
to^eyen,  and  in  1703  it  was  again  increased  to 
twelve ;  but  the  character  of  the  council  or  court 

1  Tlie  governor  and  intendant  made  frequent  appeals  to  tlie  court  to 
settle  questions  arising  between  tlieni.  Several  of  tliese  appeals  are  pre- 
served. The  king  wrote  replies  on  the  margin  of  the  paper,  but  thej 
were  usually  too  curt  and  general  to  satisfy  either  party. 

2  Declaration  du  Roi  du  16we  Juin,  1703.  Appointments  were  made  by 
the  king  many  years  earlier.  As  they  were  always  made  on  the  recom- 
mendation of  the  governor  and  intendant,  the  practical  ellect  of  the  change 
was  merely  to  exclude  the  bishop  from  a  share  in  them.  Tho  West 
India  Company  made  the  nominations  during  the  ten  years  of  its  as- 
cendancy. 

3  Cheruel,  Administration  Monarchique  en  France,  II.  100. 


268  THE   RULERS   OE   CAN^VDA.  [1663-1763. 

remfiiiied  the  same.  It  issuedjiecrees  for  the  civil, 
cominercial,  and  financial  government  of~tTre"~col- 
ony,  and  gave  judgment  in  civil  and  criminal  causes 
according  to  the  royal  ordinances  and  the  Coutume 
de  Paris.  It  exercised  also  the  function  of  reg- 
istration borrowed  from  the  parliament  of  Paris. 
That  body,  it  will  be  remembered,  had  no  analogy 
whatever  with  the  English  parliament.  Its  ordi- 
nary functions  w^ere  not  legislative,  but  judicial ; 
and  it  was  composed  of  judges  hereditary  under 
certain  conditions.  Nevertheless,  it  had  lono;  acted 
as  a  check  on  the  royal  power  through  its  right  of 
registration.  No  royal  edict  had  the  force  of  law 
till  entered  upon  its  books,  and  tliis  custom  had 
so  deep  a  root  in  the  monarchical  constitution  of 
France,  that  even  Louis  XIV.,  in  the  flush  of  his 
powder,  did  not  attempt  to  alx)lish  it.  He  did  better ; 
he  ordered  his  decrees  to  be  registered,  and  the 
humbled  parliament  submissively  obeyed.  In  like 
manner  all  edicts,  ordinances,  or  declarations  re- 
lating to  Canada  were  entered  on  the  registers  of 
the  superior  council  at  Quebec.  The  order  of  reg- 
istration was  commonly  affixed  to  the  edict  or  other 
mandate,  and  nobody  dreamed  of  disobeying  it.^ 

The  council  or  court  had  its  attorney-general, 
who^Tieard  complaints  and  brought  them  before 
the  tribunal  if  he  thought  necessary;  its  secre- 
tary, who  kept  its  registers,  and  its  huisslei^s  or 
attendant  officers.    It  sat  once  a  week ;  and,  though 

1  Many  general  edicts  relating  to  tlie  whole  kingdom  are  also  regis- 
tered on  the  books  of  the  council,  but  the  practice  in  this  respect  was  by 
Qo  means  uniform. 


1660-1763.]  INTERIOR  COURTS.  269 

it  was  the  highest  court  of  appeal,  it  exercised  at 
first  original  jurisdiction  in  very  trivial  cases. ^  It 
was  empowered  to  establish  subordinate  courts  or 
judges  throughout  the  colony.  Besides  these  there 
was  a  judge  appointed  by  the  king  for  each  of  the 
three  districts  into  which  Canada  was  divided,  those 
of  Quebec,  Three  Rivers,  and  Montreal.  To  each 
of  the  three  royal  judges  were  joined  a  clerk  and 
an  attorney-general  under  the  supervision  and  con- 
trol of  the  attorney-general  of  the  superior  court,  to 
which  tribunal  appeal  lay  from  all  the  subordinate 
jurisdictions.  The  jurisdiction  of  the  seigniors  within 
their  own  limits  has  already  been  mentioned.  They 
were  entitled  by  the  terms  of  their  grants  to  the  ex- 
ercise of  "  high,  middle,  and  low  justice ;  "  but  most 
of  them  were  practically  restricted  to  the  last  of 
the  three,  that  is,  to  petty  disputes  between  the 
hahitans,  involving  not  more  than  sixty  sous,  or 
offences  for  which  the  fine  did  not  exceed  ten  sous." 
Thus  limited,  their  judgments  were  often  useful 
in  saving  time,  trouble,  and  money  to  the  dispu- 
tants. The  corporate  seigniors  of  Montreal  long 
continued  to  hold  a  feudal  court  in  form,  with  at- 
torney-general, clerk,  and  Imissier ;  but  very  few 
other  seiii-niors  were  in  a  condition  to  imitate  them. 
Added  to  all  these  tribunals  jvasjthe  bishop's  cauJ't 
at  Quebe^  to  try  causes  held  to  be  within  the  prov- 
ince of  the  church. 

^  See  the  Rcrjislres  du  Conseil  Sun&ieur,  preserved  at  Quebec.  Be- 
tween 1663  and  1673  are  a  multitude  of  judgments  on  mutters  great  and 
small ;  from  murder,  rape,  and  infanticide,  down  to  petty  nuisances,  mis- 
behavior of  servants,  and  disputes  about  the  price  of  a  sow. 

'  Doutre  et  Lareau,  Ilistoire  du  Droit  Canadien,  135. 


270  THE  RULERS   OF   CANADA.  [16G3-17Ga 

The  office  of  judge  in  Canada  was  no  sinecure. 
The  people  were  of  a  litigious  disposition,  partly 
from  their  Norman  blood,  partly  perhaps  from  the 
idleness  of  the  long  and  tedious  winter,  which  gave 
full  leisure  for  gossip  and  quarrel,  and  partly  from 
the  very  imperfect  manner  in  which  titles  had  been 
drawn  and  the  boundaries  of  grants  marked  out, 
whence  ensued  disputes  without  end  between 
neighbor  and  neighbor. 

"  I  will  not  say,"  writes  the  satirical  La  Hontan, 
"  that  Justice  is  more  chaste  and  disinterested  here 
than  in  France ;  but,  at  least,  if  she  is  sold,  she  is 
sold  cheaper.  We  do  not  pass  through  the  clutches 
of  advocates,  the  talons  of  attorneys,  and  the  claws 
of  clerks.  These  vermin  do  not  infest  Canada  yet. 
Everybody  pleads  his  own  cause.  Our  Themis  is 
prompt,  and  she  does  not  bristle  with  fees,  costs,  and 
charges.  The  judges  have  only  four  hundred  francs 
a  year,  a  great  temptation  to  look  for  law  in  the 
bottom  of  the  suitor's  purse.  Four  hundred  francs  ! 
Not  enough  to  buy  a  cap  and  gown,  so  these  gentry 
never  wear  them."  ^ 

Thus  far  La  Hontan.  Now  let  us  hear  the  kins; 
himself.  "  The  greatest  disorder  which  has  hith- 
erto existed  in  Canada,"  writes  Louis  XIV.  to 
the  intendant  Meules,  "  has  come  from  the  small 
degree  of  liberty  which  the  officers  of  justice  have 
had  in  the  discharge  of  their  duties,  by  reason  of 
the  violence  to  which  they  have  been  subjected, 
and  the  part  they  have  been  obliged  to  take  in  the 

1  La  Hontan,  I.  21  (ed.  1705).  In  some  editions,  the  above  is  ex- 
pressed in  different  language. 


1663-1763.1  THE   COUNCILLORS.  271 

continual  quarrels  between  the  governor  and  tlie 
intendant ;  insomuch  that  justice  having  been  ad- 
ministered by  cabal  and  animosity,  the  inhabitants 
have  hitherto  been  far  from  the  tranquillity  and 
repose  which  cannot  be  found  in  a  place  Avhere 
everybody  is  compelled  to  take  side  with  one 
party  or  another."^ 

Nevertheless,  on  ordinary  local  questions  be- 
tween the  habitants,  justice  seems  to  have  been 
administered  on  the  whole  fairly ;  and  judges  of 
all  grades  often  interposed  in  their  personal  ca- 
pacity to  bring  parties  to  an  agreement  Avithout  a 
trial.  From  head  to  foot,  the  government  kept  its 
attitude   of  paternity. 

Beyond  and  above  all  the  regular  tribunals,  be- 
yond and  above  the  council  itself,  was  the  inde- 
pendent jurisdiction  lodged  in  the  person  of  the 
king's  man,  the  intendant.  His  commission  em- 
powered him,  if  he  saw  fit,  to  call  any  cause  Avhat- 
ever  before  himself  for  judgment;  and  he  judged 
exclusively  the  cases  which  concerned  the  king, 
and  those  involving  the  relations  of  seignior  and 
vassal.^  He  appointed  subordinate  judges,  from 
whom  there  was  appeal  to  him;  but  from  his 
decisions,  as  well  as  from  those  of  the  superioi 
council,  there  was  no  appeal  but  to  the  king  in  his 
council  of  state. 

On  any  Monday  morning  one  would  have  fountj 
the  superior  council  in  session  in  the  antechamber 

J  Instruction  du  Roy  pour  le  Sieur  de  Meules,  1G82. 

'  See  the  commissions  of  various  intendants,  in  Edits  et  Ordonnancet 

m. 


272  THE   RUT.ERS   OF   CANADA.  [1663-17''^ 

of  the  governor's  apartment,  at  the  Chateau  St. 
Louis.  The  members  sat  at  a  round  table.  ■  At  the 
head  was  the  governor,  with  the  bishop  on  his  right, 
and  the  intendant  on  his  left.  The  councillors  sat 
in  the  order  of  their  appointment,  and  the  attor- 
ney-general also  had  his  place  at  the  board.  As 
La  Hontan  says,  they  were  not  in  judicial  robes, 
but  in  their  ordinary  dress,  and  all  but  the  bishop 
wore  swords.^  The  w^ant  of  the  cap  and  gown 
greatly  disturbed  the  intendant  Meules,  and  he  begs 
the  minister  to  consider  how  important  it  is  that 
the  councillors,  in  order  to  inspire  respect,  should 
appear  in  pubhc  in  long  black  robes,  which  on 
occasions  of  ceremony  they  should  exchange  for 
robes  of  red.  He  thinks  that  the  principal  persons 
of  the  colony  would  thus  be  induced  to  train  up 
their  children  to  so  enviable  a  dignity ;  "  and,"  he 
concludes,  "  as  none  of  the  councillors  can  afford 
to  buy  red  robes,  I  hope  that  the  king  will  vouch- 
safe to  send  out  nine  such.  As  for  the  black  robes, 
they  can  furnish  those  themselves."  ^  The  king 
did  not  respond,  and  the  nine  robes  never  arrived. 
The  official  dignity  of  the  council  was  sometimes 
exposed  to  trials  against  which  even  red  gowns 
might  have  proved  an  insufficient  protection.  The 
same  intendant  uro-es  that  the  tribunal  ouij^ht  to  be 
provided  immediately  with  a  house  of  its  own. 
-It  is  not  decent,"  he  says,  "that  it  should  sit 
in  the  governor's  antechamber  any  longer.  His 
guards  and  valets  make  such  a  noise,  that  Ave  can- 

1  Compare  La  Pottrie,  I.  260,  and  La  Tour,  T7e  de  Laval,  Liv.  VIL 
'  Meules  au  Ministre,  28  Sent.   1685. 


1663-1763.J  THE   COUNCILLORS.  273 

not  hear  each  otlier  speak.  I  have  contmually  to 
tell  them  to  keep  quiet,  which  causes  them  to 
make  a  thousand  jokes  at  the  councillors  as  they 
pass  in  and  out."  ^  As  the  governor  and  the 
council  were  often  on  ill  terms,  the  official  head  of 
the  colony  could  not  always  be  trusted  to  keep  his 
attendants  on  their  good  behavior.  The  minister 
listened  to  the  complaint  of  Meules,  and  adopted 
his  suggestion  that  the  government  should  buy  the 
old  brewery  of  Talon,  a  large  structure  of  mingled 
timber  and  masonry  on  the  banks  of  the  St. 
Charles.  It  was  at  an  easy  distance  from  the 
chateau ;  passhig  the  Hotel  Dieu  and  descending 
the  rock,  one  reached  it  by  a  walk  of  a  few 
minutes.  It  was  accordingly  repaired,  partly 
rebuilt,  and  fitted  up  to  serve  the  double  purpose 
of  a  lodo-ino;  for  the  intendant  and  a  court-house. 
Henceforth  the  transformed  brewery  was  known 
as  the  Palace  of  the  Intendant,  or  the  Palace  of 
Justice ;  and  here  the  council  and  inferior  courts 
long  continued  to  hold  their  sessions. 

Some  of  these  inferior  courts  appear  to  have 
needed  a  lodging  quite  as  much  as  the  council. 
The  watchfid  Meules  informs  the  minister  that  the 
royal  judge  for  the  district  of  Quebec  was  accus- 
tomed in  winter,  with  a  view  to  saving  fuel,  to 
hear  causes  and  pronounce  judgment  by  his  own 
ti reside,  in  the  midst  of  his  children,  whose  gambols 
listurbed  the  even  distribution  of  justice.^ 

The  superior  council  was  not  a  very  harmonious 

»  Meules  au  Muiistre,  12  Nov.,  1684.  *  ll>id. 

18 


274  THE  RULERS  OF  CANADA.  [1603-1763. 

body.  As  its  three  chiefs,  the  man  of  the^\vord, 
the  man  of  the  church,  and  the  man  of  the  law, 
were  often  at  variance,  the  councillors  attached 
themselves  to  one  party  or  the  other,  and  hot  dis- 
putes sometimes  ensued.  The  intendant,  though 
but  third  in  rank,  presided  at  the  sessions,  took 
votes,  pronounced  judgment,  signed  papers,  and 
called  special  meetings.  This  matter  of  the  presi- 
dency was  for  some  time  a  source  of  contention 
between  him  and  the  governor,  till  the  question 
was  set  at  rest  by  a  decree  of  the  king. 

The  intendants  in  their  reports  to  the  minister 
do  not  paint  the  council  in  flattering  colors.  One 
of  them  complains  that  the  councillors,  being  busy 
with  their  farms,  neglect  their  official  duties. 
Another  says  that  they  are  all  more  or  less  in 
trade.  A  third  calls  them  uneducated  persons  of 
slight  account,  allied  to  the  chief  families  and  chief 
merchants  in  Canada,  in  whose  interest  they  make 
laws ;  and  he  adds  that,  as  a  year  and  a  haK  or 
even  two  years  usually  elapse  before  the  answer 
to  a  complaint  is  received  from  France,  they  take 
advantage  of  this  long  interval  to  the  injury  of 
the  king's  service.^  These  and  other  similar 
charges  betray  the  continual  friction  between  the 
several  branches  of  the  government. 

The  councillors  were  rarely  changed,  and  they 
usually  held  office  for  life.  In  a  few  cases  the 
king  granted  to  the  son  of  a  councillor  yet  living 
the  right  of  succeeding  his  father  when  the  charge 

'  Meules  au  Ministre,  12  Nov ,  1584, 


166L-17oa.]  THE  INTEND  ANT.  275 

should  become  vacant.*  It  was  a  post  of  honor 
and  not  of  profit,  at  least  of  direct  profit.  The 
salaries  were  very  small,  and  coupled  with  a  pro- 
hibition to  receive  fees. 

Judging  solely  by  the  terms  of  his  commission, 
the  intendant  was  the  ruling  power  in  the  colony. 
He  controlled  all  expenditure  of  public  money, 
and  not  onl}^  presided  at  the  council  but  was 
clothedjxLliis  own  person  with  independent  legis- 
lative as  well  as  judicial  power.  He  was  author- 
izedto  issue  ordinances  having  the  force  of  law 
whenever  he  thought  necessary,  and,  in  the  words 
of  his  commission,  "  to  order  every  thing  as  he 
shall^ee"  just  and  proper."  ^  He  was  directed  to 
be  present  at  councils  of  war,  though  war  was  the 
special  province  of  his  colleague,  and  to  protect 
soldiers  and  all  others  from  official  extortion  and 
abuse ;  that  is,  to  protect  them  from  the  governor. 
Yet  there  were  practical  difficulties  in  the  way  of 
his  apparent  power.  The  king,  his  master,  was 
far  away ;  but  official  jealousy  was  busy  around 
him,  and  his  patience  was  sometimes  put  to  the 
proof.  Thus  the  royal  judge  of  Quebec  had  fallen 
into  irregularities.  "  I  can  do  nothing  with  him," 
writes  the  intendant;"^' he  keeps  on  good  terms 
with  the  governor  and  council  and  sets  me  at 
naughtT^  The  governor  had,  as  he  thought,  treated 
hiTfTamiss.     "  You  have  told  me,"  he  writes  to  the 

1  A  son  of  Amours  was  named  in  liis  father's  lifetime  to  succeed  liim, 
as  was  also  a  son  of  the  attorney-general  Auteuil.  There  are  several 
other  cases.  A  son  of  Tilly,  to  whom  the  right  of  succeeding  his  father 
had  been  granted,  asks  leave  to  sell  it  to  tlie  mcrciiant  La  Cliesnaye. 

2  Commissions  of  Bouteroue,  Duchesiieau,  Meules,  etc. 


276  THE  RULERS  OF   CANADA  [16G8-1763. 

minister,  "  to  be«ir  every  thing  from  him  and  report 
to  you ; "  and  he  proceeds  to  recount  his  grievances 
Again,  "  the  attorney-general  is  bold  to  insolence, 
and  needs  to  be  repressed.  The  king's  interposi- 
tion is  necessary."  He  modestly  adds  that  the  in-, 
tendant  is  the  only  man  in  Canada  whom  his  Majesty 
can  trust,  and  that  he  ought  to  have  more  power.* 
These  were  far  from  being  his  only  troubles. 
The  enormous  powers  with  which  his  commission 
clothed  him  were  sometimes  retrenched  by  contra- 
dictory instructions  from  the  king ;  ^  for  this  gov- 
ernment, not  of  laws  but  of  arbitrary  will,  is  marked 
by  frequent  inconsistencies.  When  he  quarrelled 
with  the  governor,  and  the  governor  chanced  to 
have  strong  friends  at  court,  his  position  became 
truly  pitiable.  He  was  berated  as  an  imperious  mas- 
ter berates  an  offending  servant.  "  Your  last  letter 
is  full  of  nothing  but  complaints."  "  You  have 
exceeded  your  authority."  "  Study  to  know  your- 
self and  to  understand  clearly  the  difference  there 
is  between  a  governor  and  an  intendant."  "  Since 
you  fail  to  comprehend  the  difference  between  you 
and  the  officer  who  represents  the  king's  person, 
you  are  in  danger  of  being  often  condemned,  or 
rather  of  being  recalled,  for  his  Majesty  cannot 
endure  so  many  petty  complaints,  founded  on 
nothing  but  a  certain  quasi  equality  between  the 
governor  and  you,  which  you  assume,  but  which 

1  Metiles  au  Ministre,  12  Nov.,  1684. 

2  Thus,  Meules  is  flatly  forbidden  to  compel  litigants  to  bring 
causes  before  him  (Instruction  pour  le  Sieur  tie  Meules,  1682),  and  tliis  pro- 
aibition  is  nearly  of  the  same  date  with  the  commission  in  which  tlie 
power  to  do  so  is  expressly  given  him. 


1663-1763]  THE   INTENDANT.  277 

does  not  exist."  "Meddle  with  nothing  beyond 
your  functions."  "Take  good  care  to  tell  me 
nothing  but  the  truth."  "  You  ask  too  many  favors 
for  your  adherents."  "  You  must  not  spend  more 
than  you  have  authority  to  spend,  or  it  will  be 
taken  out  of  your  pay."  In  short,  there  are  several 
letters  from  the  minister  Colbert  to  his  colonial 
man-of-all-work,  which,  from  beginning  to  end, 
are  one  continued  scold.' 

The  luckless  intendant  was  liable  to  be  held  to 
account  for  the  action  of  natural  laws.  "  If  the 
population  does  not  increase  in  proportion  to  the 
pains  I  take,"  writes  the  king  to  Duchesneau,  "you 
are  to  lay  the  blame  on  yourself  for  not  having 
executed  my  principal  order  {to py^omote  marriages) 
and  for  having  failed  in  the  principal  object  for 
which  I  sent  you  to  Canada."  ^ 

A  great  number  of  ordinances  of  intendants  are 
preserved.  They  were  usually  read  to  the  people 
at  the  doors  of  churches  after  mass,  or  somethnes 
by  the  cure  from  his  pulpit.  They  relate  to  a 
great  variety  of  subjects,  —  regulation  of  inns  and 
markets,  poaphing,  preservation  of  game,  sale  of 
brandy,  rent  of  pews,  stray  hogs,  mad  dogs,  tithes, 
matrimonial  quarrels,  fast  driving,  wards  and  guar- 
dians, weights  and  measures,  nuisances,  value  of 
coinage,  trespass  on  lands,  building  churches,  observ- 
ance of  Sunday,  preservation  of  timber,  seignior 
and  vassal,   settlement  of  boundaries,  and  many 

'  Tlie  above  examples  are  all  taken  from  tlie  letters  of  Colbert  to  the 
intendant  Ducliesneau.  It  is  an  extreme  case,  but  other  iutcndauta  are 
occasionally  treated  with  scarcely'  more  ceremony. 

*  le  lioi  a  Duchesneau,  11  Juin,  1G80. 


278  THE  KULERS  OF  CANADA.  [1663-1763. 

other  matters.  If  a  cure  with  some  of  his  parish 
ioners  reported  that  his  church  or  his  house  needed 
repair  or  rebuilding,  the  intendant  issued  an  ordi- 
nance requiring  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  parish, 
"  both  those  who  have  consented  and  those  who 
have  not  consented,"  to  contribute  materials  and 
labor,  on  pain  of  fine  or  other  penalty.^  The  militia 
captain  of  the  cote  was  to  direct  the  w^ork  and  see 
that  each  parishioner  did  his  due  part,  wliich  was 
determined  by  the  extent  of  his  farm ;  so,  too,  if 
the  grand  voyer,  an  officer  charged  with  the  super- 
intendence of  highways,  reported  that  a  new  road 
was  wanted  or  that  an  old  one  needed  mending, 
an  ordinance  of  the  intendant  set  the  w^iole  neigh- 
borhood at  work  upon  it,  directed,  as  in  the  other 
case,  by  the  captain  of  militia.  If  children  were 
left  fatherless,  the  intendant  ordered  the  cure  of 
the  parish  to  assemble  their  relations  or  friends  for 
the  choice  of  a  guardian.  If  a  censitaire  did  not 
clear  his  land  and  live  on  it,  the  intendant  took  it 
from  him  and  gave  it  back  to  the  seignior.^ 

Chimney-sweeping  having  been  neglected  at 
Quebec,  the  intendant  commands  all  householders 
promptly  to  do  their  duty  in  this  respect,  and  at 
the  same  time  fixes  the  pay  of  the  sweep  at  six 
sous  a  cliimney.  Another  order  forbids  quarrelHng 
in  church.  Another  assigns  pews  in  due  order  of 
precedence  to  the  seignior,  the  captain  of  militia, 
and  the  wardens.    The  intendant  Raudot,  who  see-iis 

1  See,  among  many  examples,  the  ordinance  of  24th  December,  1715. 
Edits  et  Ordonnances,  II.  443. 

■^  Compare  the  numerous  ordinances  printed  in  the  second  and  third 
volumes  of  Edits  et  Ordonnances. 


1663-1 763.J  ABSOLUTISM.  279 

to  have  been  inspired  even  more  than  the  others- 
with  the  spirit  of  paternal  intervention,  issued  a 
mandate  to  the  effect  that,  whereas  the  people  of 
Montreal  raise  too  many  horses,  which  prevent*! 
them  from  raising  cattle  and  sheep,  "  being  therein 
ignorant  of  their  true  interest.  .  .  .  Now,  therefore, 
we  command  that  each  inhabitant  of  the  cotes  of 
this  government  shall  hereafter  own  no  more  than 
two  horses  or  mares  and  one  foal ;  the  same  to  take 
effect  after  the  sowing-season  of  the  ensuing  year, 
1710,  giving  them  time  to  rid  themselves  of  their 
horses  in  excess  of  said  number,  after  which  they 
will  be  required  to  kill  any  of  such  excess  that  may 
remain  in  their  jDOSsession."  ^  Many  other  ordi- 
nances, if  not  equally  preposterous,  are  equally 
stringent ;  such,  for  example,  as  that  of  the  inten- 
dant  Bigot,  in  which,  with  a  view  of  promoting 
agriculture,  and  protecting  the  morals  of  the  farmers 
by  saving  them  from  the  temptations  of  cities,  lie 
proclaims  to  them :  "  We  prohibit  and  forbid  you 
to  remove  to  this  town  [Quebec)  under  an}^  pretext 
whatever,  without  our  permission  in  writing,  on 
pain  of  being  expelled  and  sent  back  to  your  farms, 
your  furniture  and  goods  confiscated,  and  a  fine  of 
fifty  livres  laid  on  you  for  the  benefit  of  the  hos- 
pitals. And,  furthermore,  we  forbid  all  inhabitants 
of  the  city  to  let  houses  or  rooms  to  persons  coming 
from  the  country,  on  pain  of  a  fine  of  a  hundred 
livres,  also  applicable  to  the  hospitals."-  At  about 
the  same  time  a  roj^al  edict,  designed  to  prevent 
the  undue  subdivision  of  farms,  forbade  the  coiintrj? 

■•  Edits  et  Ordonndnces,  II.  273.  ^  Ibid.,  11.  309. 


280  THE   RULERS   OF  CANADA.  [1663-176a 

people,  except  such  as  were  authorized  to  live  in 
villages,  to  build  a  house  or  barn  on  any  piece  of 
land  less  than  one  and  a  half  arpents  Avide  and 
thirty  arpents  long  ;  ^  while  a  subsequent  ordinance 
of  the  intendant  commands  the  immediate  demoh- 
tion  of  certain  houses  built  in  contravention  of  the 
edict.^ 

The  spirit  of  absolutism  is  everjAvhere  apparent. 
"  It  ie  of  very  great  consequence,"  writes  the  in- 
tendant Meules,  "  that  the  people  should  not  be 
left  at  liberty  to  speak  their  minds."  ^ 

Hence  public  meetings  were  jealously  restricted. 
Even  those  held  by  parishioners  under  the  eye  of 
the  cure  to  estimate  the  cost  of  a  new  church  seem 
to  have  required  a  special  license  from  the  inten- 
dant. During  a  number  of  years  a  meeting  of  the 
principal  inhabitants  of  Quebec  was  called  in  spring 
and  autumn  by  the  council  to  discuss  the  price  and 
quality  of  bread,  the  supply  of  firewood,  and  other 
similar  matters.  The  council  commissioned  two  of 
its  members  to  preside  at  these  meetings,  and  on 
l>earing  their  report  took  what  action  it  thought 
best.  Thus,  after  the  meeting  held  in  February, 
1686,  it  issued  a  decree,  in  which,  after  a  long  and 
formal  preamble,  it  solemnly  ordained,  "  that  be- 
sides white-bread  and  light  brown-bread,  all  bakers 
shall  hereafter  make  dark  brown-bread  whenever 
the  same  shall  be  required."  *  Such  assemblies,  so 
coutrollci,  could  scarcely,  one  would  think,  wound 

'  Edits  et  Onlonnances,  I.  585.  2  Jbid.,  II.  400. 

3  "  II  ne  laisse  pas  d'etre  de  tr^s  grande  cons(?quence  de  ne  pas  laissef 
la  liberie  an  peuple  de  dire  son  sentiment."  —  Meules  au  Mlnistre,  1685. 
*  Edits  ft  Ordoiinanccs,  II.  112. 


1063-1763.]  ABSOLUTISM.  281 

the  tenderest  susceptibilities  of  authority ;  yet 
th'ere  w.as  evident  distrust  of  them,  .and  after  a 
few  years  this  modest  shred  of  self-government  is 
seen  no  more.  The  syndic,  too,  that  functionary 
whom  the  people  of  the  towns  were  at  first  allowed 
to  choose,  under  the  eye  of  the  authorities,  was 
conjured  out  of  existence  by  a  word  from  the  king. 
Seignior,  censifaire,  and  citizen  were  prostrate  alike 
in  flat  subjection  to  the  royal  will.  They  were  not 
free  even  to  go  home  to  France.  No  inhabitant 
of  Canada,  man  or  woman,  could  do  so  without 
leave ;  and  several  intendants  express  their  belief 
that  without  this  precaution  there  would  soon  be  a 
falling  off  in  the  population. 

In  1671  the  council  issued  a  curious  decree. 
One  Paul  Dupuy  had  been  heard  to  say  that  there 
is  nothing  like  righting  one's  self,  and  that  when 
the  Enghsh  cut  off  the  head  of  Charles  I.  they  did 
a  good. thing,  with  other  discourse  to  the  like  effect 
The  council  declared  him  guilty  of  speaking  ill  o 
royalty  in  the  person  of  the  king  of  England,  ana 
uttering  words  tending  to  sedition.  He  was  con- 
demned to  be  dragged  from  prison  by  the  public 
executioner,  and  led  in  his  shirt,  with  a  rope  about 
his  neck,  and  a  torch  in  his  hand,  to  the  gate  of 
the  Chateau  St.  Louis,  there  to  beg  pardon  of  the 
king ;  thence  to  the  pillory  of  the  Lower  Town  to 
be  branded  with  a  fleur-de-lis  on  the  cheek,  and 
set  in  the  stocks  for  half  an  hour ;  then  to  be  led 
back  to  prison,  and  put  in  irons  "  till  the  informa- 
tion against  him  shall  be  completed."  ^ 

•  Jxiqements  et  Deliberations  du  Conseil  Supeneur. 


282  THE  RULERS  OF  CANADA.      ;iG63-1763. 

If  irreverence  to  royalty  was  thus  rigorously 
chastised,  irreverence  to  God  was  threatened  with 
still  sharper  penalties.  Louis  XIV.,  ever  haunted 
with  the  fear  of  the  devil,  sought  protection  against 
him  by  his  famous  edict  against  swearing,  dulj' 
registered  on  the  books  of  the  council  at  Quebec. 
"  It  is  our  will  and  pleasure,"  sa}'s  this  pious  man- 
date. "  that  all  persons  convicted  of  profane  swear- 
ing or  blaspheming  the  name  of  God,  the  most 
Holy  Virgin,  his  mother,  or  the  saints,  be  con- 
demned for  the  first  offence  to  a  pecuniary  fine 
according  to  their  possessions  and  the  greatness 
and  enormity  of  the  oath  and  blasphemy ;  and  if 
those  thus  punished  repeat  the  said  oaths,  then  for 
the  second,  third,  and  fourth  time  they  shall  be 
condemned  to  a  double,  triple,  and  quadruple  fine ; 
and  for  the  fifth  time,  they  shall  be  set  in  the 
pillory  on  Sunday  or  other  festival  days,  there  to 
remain  from  eight  in  the  morning  till  one  in  the 
afternoon,  exposed  to  all  sorts  of  oppr^obrium  and 
abuse,  and  be  condemned  besides  to  a  heavy  fine ; 
and  for  the  sixth  time,  they  shall  be  led  to  the 
pillory,  and  there  have  the  upper  lip  cut  with  a 
hot  iron ;  and  for  the  seventh  time,  they  shall  be 
led  to  the  pillory  and  have  the  lower  hp  cut ;  and 
if,  by  reason  of  obstinacy  and  inveterate  bad  habit, 
they  continue  after  all  these  punishments  to  utter 
the  said  oaths  and  blasphemies,  it  is  our  will  and 
command  that  they  have  the  tongue  completely 
cut  out,  so  that  thereafter  they  cannot  utter  them 
again."  ^      All   those   who   should   hear   anybody 

'  Edit  dii  Roi/  contre  les  Jureurs  et  Blasph€mateurs,  du  oOme  Jiiillct,  1606. 
See  Edits  et  Ordonnances,  I.  62. 


16G3-1763.J  CANADIAN  JUSTICE.  28S 

swear  were  further  required  to  report  the  fact  to 
the  nearest  judge  within  twenty-four  hours,  on 
pain  of  fine. 

This  is  far  from  being  the  only  instance  in  which 
the  temporal  power  lends  aid  to  the  spiritual. 
Among  other  cases,  the  following  is  worth  men- 
tioning :  Louis  Gaboury,  an  inhabitant  of  the  island 
of  Orleans,  charged  with  eating  meat  in  Lent  with- 
out asking  leave  of  the  priest,  was  condemned  by 
the  local  judge  to  be  tied  three  hours  to  a  stake 
in  public,  and  then  led  to  the  door  of  the  chapel, 
there  on  his  knees,  with  head  bare  and  hands 
clasped,  to  ask  pardon  of  God  and  the  king.  The 
culprit  appealed  to  the  council,  which  revoked  the 
sentence  and  imposed  only  a  fine.^ 

The  due  subordination  of  households  had  its 
share  of  attention.  Servants  who  deserted  their 
masters  were  to  be  set  in  the  pillory  for  the  first 
offence,  and  whipped  and  branded  for  the  second ; 
while  any  person  harboring  them  was  to  pay  a  fine 
of  twenty  francs."  On  the  other  hand,  nobody  was 
allowed  to  employ  a  servant  without  a  license.^ 

In  case  of  heinous  charges,  torture  of  the  accused 
was  permitted  under  the  French  law ;  and  it  was 
sometimes  practised  in  Canada.  Condemned  mur- 
derers and  felons  were  occasionally  tortured  before 
being  strangled ;  and  the  dead  body,  enclosed  in  a 
kind  of  iron  cage,  was  left  hanging  for  months  at 
the  top  of  Cape  Diamond,  a  terror  to  children  and 
a  warning  to  evil-doers.     Yet,  on  the  whole,  Cana- 

1  Doutre  et  Lareau,  Ilistoire  dii  Droit  Canadiai,  163. 

2  Rdjjlement  de  Police,  1G7G. 

'  Edits  et  Ordonnances,  II.  53. 


284  THE  RULEKS   OF  CANADA.  [1663-1763. 

dian  justice,  tried  by  the  standard  of  tlie  time,  was 
neither  vindictive  nor  cruel. 

In  reading  the  voluminous  correspondence  of 
governors  and  intendants,  the  minister  and  the 
king,  nothing  is  more  ajoparent  than  the  interest 
with  which,  in  the  early  part  of  his  reign,  Louis 
Xr\^.  regarded  his  colony.  One  of  the  faults  of 
his  rule  is  the  excess  of  his  benevolence ;  for  not 
only  did  he  give  money  to  support  parish  priests, 
build  churches,  and  aid  the  seminary,  the  Ursulines, 
the  missions,  and  the  hospitals ;  but  he  established 
a  fund  destined,  among  other-  objects,  to  relieve 
indigent  persons,  subsidized  nearly  every  branch 
of  trade  and  industry,  and  in  other  instances  did 
for  the  colonists  what  they  would  far  better  have 
learned  to  do  for  themselves. 

Meanwhile  the  officers  of  government  were  far 
from  suffering  from  an  excess  of  royal  beneficence. 
La  Ilontan  says  that  the  local  governor  of  Three 
Rivers  would  die  of  hunger  if,  besides  his  pa}',  he 
did  not  gain  something  by  trade  Avith  the  Indians ; 
-and  that  Perrot,  local  governor  of  Montreal,  with 
.one  thousand  crowns  of  salary,  traded  to  such  pur- 
pose that  in  a  few  years  he  made  fifty  thousand 
crowns.  This  trade,  it  may  be  observed,  was  in  vio- 
lation of  the  royal  edicts.  The  pay  of  the  governor- 
general  varied  from  time  to  time.  When  La  Poterie 
wrote  it  was  twelve  thousand  francs  a  year,  besides 
three  thousand  which  he  received  in  his  capacity 
of  local  governor  of  Quebec.^     This  would  hardly 

'  In  1674,  the  governor-general  received  20,718  francs,  out  of  which 
he  was  to  pay  8,718  to  his  guard  of  twenty  men  and  officers.     Ordou 


1663-1763.]  ABUSES.  285 

tempt  a  Frenchman  of  rank  to  expatriate  himself ; 
and  yet  some,  at  least,  of  the  governors  came  out 
to  the  colony  for  the  express  purpose  of  menclin;^ 
their  fortunes;  indeed,  the  higher  nobility  could 
scarcely,  in  time  of  peace,  have  other  motives  for 
going  there.  The  court  and  the  army  were  their 
element,  and  to  be  elsewhere  was  banishment.  We 
shall  see  hereafter  by  what  means  they  sought 
compensation  for  their  exile  in  Canadian  forests. 
Loud  complaints  sometimes  found  *  their  way  to 
Versailles.  A  memorial  addressed  to  the  re<»;ent 
duke  of  Orleans,  immediately  after  the  king's  death, 
declares  that  the  ministers  of  state,  who  have  been 
the  real  managers  of  the  colony,  have  made  their 
creatures  and  relations  governors  and  intendants, 
and  set  them  free  from  all  responsibility.  High 
colonial  officers,  pursues  the  writer,  come  home 
rich,  while  the  colony  languishes  almost  to  perish- 
ing.^ As  for  lesser  offices,  they  were  multiplied 
to  satisfy  needy  retainers,  till  lean  and  starving 
Canada  was  covered  with  official  leeches,  sucking, 
in  famished  desperation,  at  her  bloodless  veins. 
The  whole  system  of  administration  centred  in 

nance  da  Roy,  1675.  Yet  in  1677,  in  the  Etat  de  la  D^pense  que  le  Roy  rent 
et  ordunne  cstre  fade,  etc.,  the  total  pay  of  the  govumor-fjeneral  is  set 
down  at  3,000  francs,  and  so  also  in  1081,  1082,  and  1087.  The  locul 
governor  of  Montreal  was  to  have  1,800  francs,  and  the  governor  of 
Three  Rivers  1,200.  It  is  clear,  however,  that  this  Elul  de  ile'/n'iise  is  not 
complete,  as  there  is  no  provision  for  the  intendant.  The  first  coinicillor 
received  500  francs,  and  the  rest  800  francs  each,  equal  in  Caiiailian 
money  to  400.  An  ordinance  of  1070  gives  the  intendant  I'J.CMJO  francs. 
It  is  tolerably  clear  that  the  provision  of  3,000  francs  for  the  governor- 
general  was  meant  only  to  apply  to  his  capacity  of  locul  governor  of 
Quebec. 

1  il/rt/w/Ve  address^  au  R€yent,  1715 


286  THE   RULERS   OF   CANADA.  [1663-1768 

the  king,  who,  to  borrow  the  formula  of  his  edicts, 
"  in  the  fuhiess  of  our  power  and  our  certaitt  knowl- 
edge," was  supposed  to  direct  the  whole  machine, 
from  its  highest  functions  to  its  pettiest  interven- 
tion in  private  affairs.  That  this  theory,  like  all 
extreme  theories  of  government,  was  an  illusion, 
is  no  fault  of  Louis  XIV.  Hard-working  monarch 
as  he  w^as,  he  spared  no  pains  to  guide  his  distant 
colony  in  the  paths  of  prosperity.  The  proHx 
letters  of  governors  and  intendants  were  carefully 
studied ;  and  many  of  the  replies,  signed  by  the 
royal  hand,  enter  into  details  of  surprising  minute- 
ness. That  the  king  himself  wrote  these  letters  is 
incredible ;  but  in  the  early  part  of  his  reign  he 
certainly  directed  and  controlled  them.  At  a  later 
time,  when  more  absorbing  interests  engrossed 
■him,  he  could  no  longer  study  in  person  the  long- 
winded  despatches  of  his  Canadian  officers.  They 
were  usually  addressed  to  the  minister  of  state, 
who  caused  abstracts  to  be  made  from  them,  for 
the  king's  use,  and  perhaps  for  his  own.^  The 
minister  or  the  minister's  secretary  could  suppress 
or  color  as  he  or  those  who  influenced  him  saw  fit. 
In  the  latter  half  of  his  too  long  reign,  when 
cares,  calamities,  and  humiliations  were  thickening 
around  the  king,  another  influence  was  added  to 
make  the  theoretical  supremacy  of  his  royal  will 
more  than  ever  a  mockery.  That  prince  of  annal- 
ists, Saint-Simon,  has  painted  Louis  XIY.  ruling 
his  realm  from  the  bedchamber   of   Madame  de 

1  Many  of  tliese  abstracts  are  still  preserved  in  the  Archives  of  the 
Marine  and  Colonies. 


1663-1763.]        THE   KING   AND   THE  MINISTER.  287 

Maintenon;  seated  with  his  minister  at  a  small 
table  beside  the  fire,  the  king  in  an  arm-chaii",  the 
minister  on  a  stool  with  his  bag  of  papers  on  a 
second  stool  near  him.  In  another  arm-chair,  at 
another  table,  on  the  other  side  of  the  fire,  sat  the 
sedate  favorite,  busy  to  all  appearance  with  a  book 
or  a  piece  of  tapestry,  but  listening  to  every  thing 
that  passed.  "  She  rarely  spoke,"  saj^s  Saint-Simon, 
"  except  when  the  king  asked  her  opinion,  which 
he  often  did ;  and  then  she  answered  with  great 
deliberation  and  gravity.  She  never  or  very  rarely 
showed  a  partiality  for  any  measure,  still  less  for 
any  person;  but  she  had  an  understanding  with  the 
minister,  who  never  dared  do  otherwise  than  she 
wished.  Whenever  any  favor  or  appointment  was 
in  question,  the  business  was  settled  between  them 
beforehand.  She  would  send  to  the  minister  that 
she  wanted  to  speak  to  him,  and  he  did  not  dare 
bring  the  matter  on  the  carpet  till  he  had  received 
her  orders."  Saint-Simon  next  recounts  the  subtle 
methods  by  which  Maintenon  and  the  minister, 
her  tool,  beguiled  the  king  to  do  their  will,  while 
never  doubting  that  he  was  doing  his  own.  "  He 
thought,"  concludes  the  annalist,  "  that  it  was  he 
alone  who  disposed  of  all  appointments ;  while  in 
reality  he  disposed  of  very  few  indeed,  except  on 
the  rare  occasions  when  he  had  taken  a  fancy  to 
somebody,  or  when  somebody  whom  he  wanted  to 
favor  had  spoken  to  him  in  behalf  of  somebody 
else."^ 

1  M^mmres  du  Due  de  Saint-Simon,  XIII.  38,  39  (Clieruel,  1857).    SainU 
Bimon,  notwithstanding  the  independence  of  hia  character,  held  a  high 


288  THE  RULERS  OF  CANADA.  [1663-1763 

Add  to  all  this  the  rarity  of  communication  A\ith 
the  distant  colony.  The  ships  from  France  arrived 
at  Quebec  in  July,  August,  or  September,  and 
returned  in  November.  The  machine  of  Canadian 
government,  wound  up  once  a  year,  was  expected 
to  run  unaided  at  least  a  twelvemonth.  Indeed, 
it  was  often  left  to  itself  for  two  years,  such  was 
sometimes  the  tardiness  of  the  overburdened  gov- 
ernment in  answering  the  despatches  of  its  colonial 
agents.  It  is  no  matter  of  surprise  that  a  writer 
well  versed  in  its  affairs  calls  Canada  the  "  country 
of  abuses."  ^ 

position  at  court ;  and  his  acute  and  careful  observation,  joined  to  liia 
familiar  acquaintance  with  ministers  and  other  functionaries,  both  in  and 
out  of  office,  gives  a  rare  value  to  his  matchless  portraitures. 
1  Flat  present  du  Canada,  1768. 


CHAPTER  XVn. 

1663-1763. 

TRADE  AND  INDUSTKY. 

Trade  in  Fetteks.  —  The  Huguenot  Merchants.  —  Royal  Pat- 
ronage.—  The  Fisheries.  —  Cries  for  Help.  —  Agriculture. 

—  Manufactures.  —  Arts  of  Ornament.  —  Finance.  —  Card 
Monet.  —  Repudiation.  —  Imposts.  —  The  Beaver  Trade.  — 
The  Fair  at  Montreal.  —  Contraband  Trade.  —  A  Fatal 
System.  —  Trouble   and   Change.  —  The    Coureurs  de  Bois. 

—  The  Forest.  —  Letter  of  Cariieil. 

We  have  seen  the  head  of  the  colony,  its  guiding 
intellect  and  will :  it  remains  to  observe  its  organs 
of  nutrition.  Whatever  they  might  have  been 
under  a  different  treatment,  they  were  perverted 
and  enfeebled  by  the  regimen  to  which  they  were 
subjected. 

The  spirit  of  restriction  and  monopoly  had  ruled 
from  the  beginning.  The  old  governor  Lauson, 
seignior  for  a  while  of  a  great  part  of  the  colony, 
lield  that  Montreal  had  no  right  to  trade  directly 
with  France,  but  must  draw  all  her  supplies  from 
Quebec  ;  ^  and  this  preposterous  claim  was  revived 
in  the  time  of  Mezy.  The  successive  companies 
to  whose  hands  the  colony  was  consigned  had  a 
baneful  effect  on  individual  enterprise.     In  1G74, 

1  Faillon,  Colonic  /■'/(uK^tu'sc,  II.  214. 
19 


290  TRADE  AND  INDUSTRY.  [1003-17(53 

the  charter  of  tlie  West  India  Company  was  revoked, 
and  trade  was  declared  open  to  all  subjects  of  the 
king ;  yet  commerce  was  still  condemned  to  wear 
the  ball  and  chain.  New  restrictions  were  imposed, 
meant  for  good,  but  resulting  in  evil.  Merchants 
not  resident  in  the  colony  were  forbidden  all  trade, 
direct  or  indirect,  with  the  Indians.^  They  were 
also  forbidden  to  sell  any  goods  at  retail  except  in 
August,  September,  and  October ;  ^  to  trade  any- 
where in  Canada  above  Quebec ;  and  to  sell  clothing 
or  domestic  articles  ready  made.  This  last  restric- 
tion was  designed  to  develop  colonial  industry. 
No  person,  resident  or  not,  could  trade  with  the 
Enghsh  colonies,  or  go  thither  without  a  special 
passport,  and  rigid  examination  by  the  military 
authorities.^  Foreign  trade  of  any  kind  was  stiffly 
prohibited.  In  1719,  after  a  new  company  had 
engrossed  the  beaver  trade,  its  agents  were  empow- 
ered to  enter  all  houses  in  Canada,  whether  eccle- 
siastical or  secular,  and  search  them  for  foreign 
goods,  which  when  found  were  publicly  burned.^ 
In  the  next  year,  the  royal  council  ordered  that 
vessels  engaged  in  foreign  trade  should  be  captured 
by  force  of  arms,  like  pirates,  and  confiscated  along 
with  their  cargoes;^  while  anybody  having  an 
article  of  foreign  manufacture  ill  his  possession 
was  subjected  to  a  heavy  fine.^ 

AttemjDts  were  made  to  fix  the  exact  amoimt 
of  profit  which  merchants  from  France  should  be 

»  R^glement  de  Police,  1676,  Art.  xl. 

«  Edits  et  Old.,  II.  100.  3  Rid.,  I.  489. 

4  Ibid.,  I.  402.  5  Ihid.,  I.  425.  6  md.,  i.  505. 


1C83-1763.]  HERESY   AND   TRADE.  291 

allowed  to  make  in  the  colony.  One  of  the  first 
acts  of  the  sinDcrior  council  was  to  order  them  to 
bring  their  invoices  immediately  before  that  body, 
which  thereupon  affixed  prices  to  each  article. 
The  merchant  who  sold  and  the  purchaser  who 
bought  above  this  tariff  were  alike  condemned 
to  heavy  penalties ;  and  so,  too,  was  the  mer- 
chant who  chose  to  keep  his  goods  rather  than 
sell  them  at  the  jorice  ordained.^  Resident  mer- 
chants, on  the  other  hand,  were  favored  to  the 
utmost.  They  could  sell  at  what  price  they  saw 
fit ;  and,  according  to  La  Hontan,  they  made  great 
profit  by  the  sale  of  laces,  ribbons,  watches,  jewels, 
and  similar  suiDcrfluities  to  the  poor  but  extravagant 
colonists. 

A  considerable  number  of  the  non-resident  mer- 
chants were  Huguenots,  for  most  of  the  importa- 
tions were  from  the  old  Huguenot  city  of  Rochelle. 
No  favor  was  shown  them ;  they  were  held  under 
rio-id  restraint,  and  forbidden  to  exercise  their 
religion,  or  to  remain  in  the  colony  during  winter 
without  special  license.^  This  sometimes  bore  very 
hard  upon  them.  The  governor  Denonville,  an 
ardent  Catholic,  states  the  case  of  one  Bernon,  who 
had  done  great  service  to  the  colony,  and  whom 
La  Hontan  mentions  as  the  principal  French  mer- 
chant in  the  Canadian  trade.  "  It  is  a  pity,"  saya 
Denonville,  "  that  he  cannot  be  converted.  As  he 
is  a  Huguenot,  the  bishop  wants  me  to  order  him 
home  this  autumn,  which  I  have  done,  though  he 

1   FAlitset  Ord.,l\.  17,  19. 

^  Htfylement  de  Police,  1G7G.     Art.  xxxvii. 


292  TRADE  AND   INDUSTRY.  [1663-1763. 

carries  on  a  large  business,  and  a  great  deal  of 
money  remains  due  to  him  here."  ^  ' 

For  a  long  time  the  ships  from  France  went 
home  emj)ty,  except  a  favored  few  which  carried 
furs,  or  occasionally  a  load  of  dried  pease  or  of 
timber.  Payment  was  made  in  money  when  there 
was  any  in  Canada,  or  in  bills  of  exchange.  The 
colony,  drawing  every  thing  from  France,  and 
returning  little  besides  beaver  skins,  remained 
under  a  load  of  debt.  French  merchants  were  dis- 
couraged, and  shipments  from  France  languished. 
As  for  the  trade  with  the  West  Indies,  which  Talon 
had  tried  by  precept  and  example  to  build  up,  the 
intendant  reports  in  1680  that  it  had  nearly  ceased ; 
though  six  years  later  it  grew  again  to  the  modest 
proportions  of  three  vessels  loaded  Avith  wheat.^ 

The  besetting  evil  of  trade  and  industry  in 
Canada  was  the  habit  they  contracted,  and  were 
encouraged  to  contract,  of  depending  on  the  direct 
aid  of  government.  Not  a  new  enterprise  was  set 
on  foot  without  a  petition  to  the  king  to  lend  a 
helping  hand.  Sometimes  the  petition  was  sent 
through  the  governor,  sometimes  through  the  in- 
tendant; and  it  was  rarely  refused.  Denonvillc 
writes  that  the  merchants  of  Quebec,  by  a  com- 
bined effort,  had  sent  a  vessel  of  sixty  tons  to 
France  with  colonial  produce ;  and  he  asks  that 
the  royal  commissaries  at  Rochefort  be  mstructed 
to  buy  the  whole  cargo,  in  order  to  encourage  so 

1  Denonville  au  Ministre,  1685. 

'  Ibid.,  1686.  The  year  before,  about  18,000  77unots  of  grain  were  seat 
hither.     In  1736,  the  s^iipmonts  reached  80,000  minots. 


1663-1763.]  KOYAL  PATRONAGE.  293 

deserving  an  enterprise.  One  Ilazeur  set  up  a 
saw-mill,  at  Mai  Bay.  Finding  a  large  stock  of 
planks  and  timber  on  his  hands,  he  begs  the  king 
to  send  two  vessels  to  carry  them  to  France ;  and 
the  king  accordingly  did  so.  A  similar  request 
was  made  in  behaK  of  another  saw-mill  at  St.  Paul's 
Bay.  Denonville  announces  that  one  Riverin 
wishes  to  embark  in  the  whale  and  cod  fishery, 
and  that  though  strong  in  zeal  he  is  weak  in  re- 
sources. The  minister  replies,  that  he  is  to  be 
encouraged,  and  that  his  Majesty  will  favorably 
consider  his  enterprise.^  Various  gifts  Avere  soon 
after  made  him.  He  now  took  to  himself  a  part- 
ner, the  Sieur  Chalons ;  whereupon  the  governor 
writes  to  ask  the  minister's  protection  for  them. 
"  The  Basques,"  he  says,  "  formerly  carried  on  this 
fishery,  but  some  monopoly  or  other  put  a  stop  to 
it."  The  remedy  he  proposes  is  homoeopathic. 
He  asks  another  monopoly  for  the  two  partners. 
Louis  Joliet,  the  discoverer  of  the  Mississippi,  made 
a  fishing  station  on  the  island  of  Anticosti ;  and  he 
begs  help  from  the  king,  on  the  ground  that  his 
fishery  will  furnish  a  good  and  useful  employment 
l(j  young  men.  The  Sieur  Vitry  wished  to  begin 
a  fishery  of  white  porpoises,  and  he  begs  the  king 

1  The  interest  felt  by  the  king  in  these  matters  is  sliown  in  n  letter 
signed  by  his  hand  in  which  lie  enters  witli  considerable  detail  into  the 
plans  of  Kiverin.  Le  Boy  u  Denonville  et  Clt(tnt]n]iiii/,  I  xMni,  168'J.  lie 
afterwards  ordered  boats,  harpooners,  and  cordage  to  be  sent  hini,  for 
which  he  was  to  pay  at  bis  convenience.  Four  years  later,  he  com- 
plains that,  though  Iliverin  had  been  often  helped,  his  fisheries  were  of  • 
slight  account.  "Let  him  take  care,"  pursues  the  king,  "that  he  doe« 
not  use  his  enterprises  as  a  pretext  to  obtain  favors."  M^moire  du  lioj 
a  Fronlenac  et  Cluinipigni/,  IGU^i 


294  TRADE  AND  INDUSTRY.  [1663-176i 

to  give  him  two  thousand  pounds  of  cod-Hne  and 
two  thousand  pounds  of  one  and  two  inch  rope. 
His  request  was  granted,  on  Avhich  he  asked  for 
five  hundred  hvres.  The  money  was  given  him, 
and  the  next  year  he  asked  to  have  the  gift 
renewed.^ 

The  king  was  very  anxious  to  develop  the  fish- 
\eries  of  the  colony.  "  His  Majesty,"  writes  the 
minister,  "  wishes  you  to  induce  the  inhabitants  to 
unite  with  the  merchants  for  this  object,  and  to 
incite  them  by  all  sorts  of  means  to  overcome  their 
natural  laziness,  since  there  is  no  other  way  of 
saving  them  from  the  misery  in  wliich  they  now 
are." ^  "I  wish,"  says  the  zealous  Denonville, 
"  that  fisheries  could  be  well  established  to  give 
employment  to  our  young  men,  and  prevent  them 
from  running  wild  in  the  woods;"  and  he  adds 
mournfully,  "they  [the  fisheries)  are  enriching 
Boston  at  our  expense."  "  They  are  our  true 
mines,"  urges  the  intendant  Meules ;  "  but  the 
English  of  Boston  have  got  possession  of  those  of 
Acadia,  which  belong  to  us ;  and  we  ought  to  pre- 
vent it.''     It  was  not  prevented  ;  and  the  Canadian 


1  All  the  above  examples  are  drawn  from  the  correspondence  of  the 
governor  and  intendant  with  the  minister,  between  1680  and  1699,  to- 
gether with  a  memorial  of  Hazeur  and  another  of  Riverin,  addressed  to 
the  minister. 

Vitry's  porpoise-fishing  appears  to  have  ended  in  failure.  In  1707  the 
intendant  Raudot  granted  the  porpoise  fishery  of  the  seigniory  of  Rivifere 
Quelle  to  six  of  the  habilans.  This  fishery  is  carried  on  here  successfully 
at  the  present  day.  A  very  interesting  account  of  it  was  published  in  the 
Ofinion  Puhlique,  1873,  by  my  friend  Abbe  Casgrain,  whose  family  resi- 
dence is  the  seigniorial  mansion  of  Riviere  Quelle. 

2  M€moire  pour  Denonville  et  Champujny,  8  Mars,  1688. 


1663-1763.]  THE  FISHERIES.  295 

fisheries,  like  other  branches  of  Canadian  industry, 
remained  in  a  state  of  ahnost  hopeless  languor.' 

The  government  applied  various  stimulants.  One 
of  these,  proposed  by  the  intendant  Duchesneau,  is 
characteristic.  He  advises  the  formation  of  a  com- 
pany which  should  have  the  exclusive  right  of 
exporting  fish;  but  which  on  its  part  should  be 
required  to  take,  at  a  fixed  price,  all  that  the  in- 
habitants should  bring  them.  This  notable  plan 
did  not  find  favor  with  the  king.^  It  was  practised, 
however,  in  the  case  of  beaver  skins,  and  also  in 
that  of  wood-ashes.  The  farmers  of  the  revenue 
wero  required  to  take  this  last  commodity  at  a 
fixed  price,  on  their  own  risk,  and  in  any  quantity 
offered.  They  remonstrated,  saying  that  it  was 
unsalable ;  adding  that,  if  the  inhabitants  Avould 
but  take  the  trouble  to  turn  it  into  potash,  it  might 
be  possible  to  find  a  market  for  it.  The  king 
released  them  entirely,  coupling  his  order  to  that 
effect  with  a  eulogy  of  free  trade. ^ 

In  all  departments  of  industry,  the  appeals  for 
help  are  endless.  Governors  and  intendants  are 
so  many  sturdy  beggars  for  the  languishing  colony. 

1  Tlie  Canadian  fisheries  must  not  be  confounded  witli  the  French 
fislieries  of  Newfoundland,  wliich  were  jirosperous,  but  were  carried  on 
wholly  from  French  i)orts. 

In  a  memorial  addressed  by  the  partners  Chalons  and  Riverin  to  the 
minister  Seignelay,  they  say:  "  Baston  {Boston)  et  toute  sa  coloiiie  nous 
donne  un  exemple  qui  fait  honte  a  nostre  nation,  puisqu'elle  s'aujiniente 
tous  les  jours  par  cette  pesche  {de  la  morue)  quelle  fait  la  plus  yrande 
partie  sur  nos  costes  pendant  que  les  Fram/ois  ne  s'occupent  h  rien." 
Meules  urges  that  the  king  should  undertake  the  fishing  businefS  himself; 
since  his  subjects  cannot  or  will  not. 

^  Mlnislre  a  Duchesneau,  15  Mni,  1078. 

'  Le  Roy  a  Ducltcsneau,  11  Juin,  1680. 


296  TRADE  AND   INDUSTRY,  [1663-1763 

''  Send  us  money  to  build  storehouses,  to  whicli  the 
habitants  can  bring  their  produce  and  -receive 
goods  from  the  government  in  exchange."  "  Send 
us  a  teacher  to  make  sailors  of  our  young  men : 
it  is  a  pity  the  colony  shoidd  remain  in  such  a 
state  for  want  of  instruction  for  youth."  ^  "We 
want  a  surgeon :  there  is  none  in  Canada  who  can 
set  a  bone."^  "Send  us  some  tilers,  brick-makers, 
and  potters."  ^  "  Send  us  iron-workers  to  work  our 
mines."*  "It  is  to  be  wished  that  liis  Majesty 
would  send  us  all  sorts  of  artisans,  especially  pot- 
ters and  glass-workers."  ^  "  Our  Canadians  need 
aid  and  instruction  in  their  fisheries;  they  need 
pilots."  ^ 

In  1688,  the  intendant  reported  that  Canada 
was  entirely  Avithout  either  pilots  or  sailors ;  and, 
as  late  as  1712,  the  engineer  Catalogue  informed 
the  government  that,  though  the  St.  Lawrence  was 
dangerous,  a  pilot  was  rarely  to  be  had.  "  There 
ouo;ht  to  be  trade  w^ith  the  West  Indies  and  other 
places,"  urges  another  writer.  "  Everybody  says 
it  is  best,  but  nobody  will  undertake  it.  Our  mer- 
chants are  too  poor,  or  else  are  engrossed  by  the 
fur  trade."  ^ 

The  languor  of  commerce  made  agriculture  lan- 
guish.    "  It   is   of    no  use  now,"   writes  Meules, 

1  M€moire  a  Mcvseiqneur  le  Marquis  de  Seignelay,  pr€sent€  par  let  Situra 
Chalons  et  liiverin,  1686. 

'^  Champigny  au  Mlnistre,  1688. 
8  Ibid. 

*  Denonville  au  Ministre,  1686. 

*  Memoire  de  Caialogne,  1712. 
8  Denonville  au  Ministre,  1686. 

^  Memoire  de  Chalons  et  Ricerin  pr€sent^  au  Marquis  de  Seignelay 


1663-1763.]  MANUFACTURES.  297 

in  1682,  "  to  raise  any  crops  except  what  each 
family  wants  for  itself."  In  vain  the  government 
sent  out  seeds  for  distribution.  In  vain  intendants 
lectured  the  farmers,  and  lavished  well-meant  ad- 
vice. Tillage  remained  careless  and  slovenly. 
"  If,"  says  the  all-observing  Catalogue,  "  the  soil 
were  not  better  cultivated  in  Europe  than  here, 
three-fourths  of  the  people  woidd  starve."  He 
complains  that  the  festivals  of  the  church  are  so 
numerous  that  not  ninet}^  working  days  are  left 
during  the  whole  working  season.  The  j)eople,  he 
says,  ought  to  be  compelled  to  build  granaries  to 
store  their  crops,  instead  of  selling  them  in  autumn 
for  almost  notliing,  and  every  habitant  should  be 
required  to  keep  two  or  three  sheep.  The  intend- 
ant  Champigny  calls  for  seed  of  hemp  and  flax, 
and  promises  to  visit  the  farms,  and  show  the 
people  the  lands  best  suited  for  their  culture.  He 
thinks  that  favors  should  be  granted  to  those  who 
raise  hemp  and  flax  as  well  as  to  those  who  marry. 
Denonville  is  of  opinion  that  each  habitant  should 
be  compelled  to  raise  a  little  hemp  every  year, 
and  that  the  king  should  then  buy  it  of  him  at  a 
high  price. ^  It  will  be  well,  he  says,  to  make  use 
of  severity,  while,  at  the  same  time,  holding  out 
a  hope  of  gain ;  and  he  begs  that  weavers  be  sent 
out  to  teach  the  women  and  girls,  who  spend  the 
winter  in  idleness,  how  to  weave  and  spin.  Weav- 
ing and  spinning,  however,  as  well  as  the  culture 
of  hemp  and  flax,  were  neglected  till  1705,  when 
the  loss  of  a  ship  laden  with  goods  for  the  colony 

'  Denonville  au  Minislre,  13  Nov.,  1685. 


298  TRADE  AND   INDUSTRY.  [1663-1763 

gave  the  spur  to  home  industry ;  and  Madame  do 
Repentigny  set  the  example  of  making  a  'kind  of 
coarse  blanket  of  nettle  and  Hnden  bark.^ 

The  jealousy  of  colonial  manufactures  shown  by 
England  appears  but  rarely  in  the  relations  of 
France  with  Canada.  According  to  its  light,  the 
French  government  usually  did  its  best  to  stimu- 
late Canadian  industry,  with  what  results  we  have 
just  seen.  There  was  afterwards  some  improve- 
ment. In  1714,  the  intendant  Begon  reported  that 
coarse  fabrics  of  wool  and  Mnen  were  made ;  that 
the  sisters  of  the  congregation  wore  cloth  for  their 
own  habits  as  good  as  the  same  stuffs  in  France ; 
that  black  cloth  was  made  for  priests,  and  blue  cloth 
for  the  pupils  of  the  colleges.  The  inhabitants, 
he  says,  have  been  taught  these  arts  by  necessity. 
They  were  naturally  adroit  at  handiwork  of  all 
kinds ;  and  during  the  last  half  century  of  the 
French  rule,  when  the  population  had  settled  into 
comparative  stability,  many  of  the  mechanic  arts 
were  practised  with  success,  notwithstanding  the 
assertion  of  the  Abbe  La  Tour  that  every  thing 
but  bread  and  meat  had  still  to  be  brought  from 
France.  This  change  may  be  said  to  date  from 
the  peace  of  Utrecht,  or  a  few  years  before  it.  At 
that  time,  one  Duplessis  had  a  new  vessel  on  the 
stocks.  Catalogue,  who  states  the  fact,  calls  it  the 
beginning  of  ship-building  in  Canada,  evidently 
ignorant  that  Talon  had  made  a  fruitless  bea'innincj 
more  than  forty  years  before. 
~   Of  the  arts  of  ornament  not  much  could  have 

1  Beauharnois  et  Baudot  au  Ministre,  1705. 


1663-1763.]  FINANCE.  299 

been  expected ;  but,  strangely  enough,  they  were 
in  somewhat  better  condition  than  the  useful  arts. 
The  nuns  of  the  Hotel-Dieu  made  artificial  flowers 
for  altars  and  shrines,  under  the  direction  of  Mother 
Juchereau ;  ^  and  the  boys  of  the  seminary  were 
taught  to  make  carvings  in  wood  for  the  decoration 
of  churches.^  Pierre,  son  of  the  merchant  Le  Ber, 
had  a  turn  for  painting,  and  made  religious  pictures, 
described  as  very  indifferent.^  His  sister  Jeanne, 
an  enthusiastic  devotee,  made  embroideries  for 
vestments  and  altars,  and  her  work  was  much 
admired. 

The  colonial  finances  were  not  prosperous.  In 
the  absence  of  coin,  beaver-skins  long  served  as 
currency.  In  1669,  the  council  declared  wheat  a 
legal  tender,  at  four  francs  the  mmot  or  three 
French  bushels ;  *  and,  five  years  later,  all  creditors 
were  ordered  to  receive  moose-skins  in  payment  at 
the  market  rate.^  Coin  would  not  remain  in  the 
colony.  If  the  company  or  the  king  sent  any 
thither,  it  went  back  in  the  returning  sliijDS.  The 
government  devised  a  remedy.  A  coinage  was 
ordered  for  Canada  one-fourth  less  in  value  than 
that  of  France.  Thus  the  Canadian  hvre  or  franc 
was  worth,  in  reality,  fifteen  sous  instead  of  twenty.^ 
This  shallow  expedient  produced  only  a  nominal 
rise  of  prices,  and  coin  fled  the  colony  as  before. 

1  Juchereau,  Hist,  de  I'llotel-Dieu,  244. 
■i  Abeille,  II.,  13. 

3  Faillon,  Vie  de  Mile.  Le  Ber,  331. 

4  Edils  et  Old.,  II.  47. 

5  Ibid.,  II.  55. 

6  Tliis  device  was  of  very  early  date.  See  Boucher,  Uist.  Viritabl^ 
chap.  xiv. 


300  TRADE  AND  INDUSTRY.  [1663-1763 

Trade  was  carried  on  for  a  time  by  means  of  nego- 
tiable notes,  payable  in  fm^s,  goods,  or  farm  prod- 
uce. In  1G85,  the  intendant  Meiiles  issued  a 
card  currency.  He  had  no  money  to  pay  the 
soldiers,  "  and  not  knomng,"  he  informs  the  min- 
ister, "  to  what  saint  to  make  my  vows,  the  idea 
occurred  to  me  of  putting  in  circulation  notes 
made  of  cards,  each  cut  into  four  pieces ;  and  I 
have  issued  an  ordinance  commanding  the  inhabi- 
tants to  receive  them  in  payment."  ^  The  cards 
were  common  playing  cards,  and  each  piece  was 
stamped  with  a  Jleur-de-lis  and  a  crown,  and  signed 
by  the  governor,  the  intendant,  and  the  clerk  of 
the  treasury  at  Quebec.^  The  example  of  Meules 
found  ready  imitation.  Governors  and  intendants 
-made  card  money  whenever  they  saw  fit ;  and, 
being  worthless  everywhere  but  in  Canada,  it 
showed  no  disposition  to  escape  the  colony.  It 
was  declared  convertible  not  into  coin,  but  into 
bills  of  exchange ;  and  this  conversion  could  only 
take  place  at  brief  specified  periods.  "  The  cur- 
rency used  in  Canada,"  says  a  writer  in  the  last 
years  of  the  French  rule,  "  has  no  value  as  a  repre- 
sentative of  money.  It  is  the  sign  of  a  sign."  ^  It 
was  card  representing  paper,  and  this  paj^er  was  very 
often  dishonored.  In  1714,  the  amount  of  card 
rubbish  had  risen  to  two  million  livres.  Confidence 
was  lost,  and  trade  was  half  dead.  The  minister 
Ponchartrain  came  to  the  rescue,  and  promised  to 


1  Mettles  att  Ministre,  24:^Sept.,  1G85. 

2  M€moire  address^  au  Regent,  1715. 

3  Considerations  sur  I'Etat  da  Canada,  1758. 


1663-1763.]  EEPUDIATIO^.  301 

redeem  it  at  half  its  nominal  value.  The  holders 
preferred  to  lose  half  rather  than  the  whole,  and 
accepted  the  terms.  A  few  of  the  cards  were 
redeemed  at  the  rate  named ;  then  the  govern 
ment  broke  faith,  and  payment  ceased.  "  This 
afflicting  news,"  says  a  writer  of  the  time,  "  was 
brought  out  by  the  vessel  which  sailed  from  France 
last  July." 

In  1717,  the  government  made  another  proposal, 
and  the  cards  were  converted  into  bills  of  exchang-e. 

o 

At  the  same  time  a  new  issue  was  made,  which  it 
was  declared  should  be  the  last.^  This  issue  was 
promptly  redeemed,  but  twelve  years  later  another 
followed  it.  In  the  interval,  a  certain  quantity  of 
coin  circulated  in  the  colony ;  but  it  underwent 
fluctuations  through  the  intervention  of  govern- 
ment ;  and,  within  eight  years,  at  least  four  edicts 
were  issued  affecting  its  value. ^  Then  came  more 
promises  to  pay,  till,  in  the  last  bitter  years  of  its 
existence,  the  colony  floundered  in  drifts  of  worth- 
less paper. 

One  characteristic  grievance  was  added  to  the 
countless  woes  of  Canadian  commerce.  The  gov- 
ernment was  so  jealous  of  popular  meetings  of  all 
kinds,  that  for  a  long  time  it  forbade  merchants  to 
meet  together  for  discussing  their  affairs ;  and,  it 
was  not  till  1717  that  the  establishment  of  a  hoiirst 
or  exchange  was  permitted  at  Quebec  and  Mon- 
treal.^ 

In  respect  of  taxation,  Canada,  as  compared  with  - 

1  Edits  et  Old.,  I.  370.  2  nui,  400,  432,  436,  484. 

'  Doutre  et  Lareau,  Hist,  du  Droit  Canadieu,  254. 


302  TRADE  AND  INDUSTRY.  [1663-1763 

France,  had  no  reason  to  complain.  If  the  king 
permitted  governors  and  intendants  to  make  card 
money,  he  permitted  nobody  to  impose  taxes  but 
himself.  The  Canadians  paid  no  direct  civil  tax, 
except  in  a  few  instances  where  temporary  and 
local  assessments  were  ordered  for  special  objects. 
It  was  the  fur  trade  on  which  the  chief  burden 
fell.  One-fourth  of  the  beaver-skins,  and  one-tenth 
of  the  moose-hides,  belonged  to  the  king ;  and  wine, 
brandy,  and  tobacco  contributed  a  duty  of  ten  pei 
cent.  During  a  long  course  of  years,  these  were 
the  only  imposts.  The  king,  also,  retained  the 
exclusive  right  of  the  fur  trade  at  Tadoussac.  A 
vast  tract  of  wilderness  extending  from  St.  Paul's 
>Bay  to  a  point  eighty  leagues  down  the  St.  Law- 
rence, and  stretching  indefinitely  northward  towards 
Hudson's  Bay,  formed  a  sort  of  royal  preserve, 
whence  every  settler  was  rigidly  excluded.  The 
farmers  of  the  revenue  had  their  tradino;-houses  at 
Tadoussac,  whither  the  northern  tribes,  until  war, 
pestilence,  and  brandy  consumed  them,  brought 
every  summer  a  large  quantity  of  furs. 

When,  in  1674,  the  West  India  Company,  to 
whom  these  imposts  had  been  granted,  was  extin- 
guished, the  king  resumed  possession  of  them.  The 
various  duties,  along  with  the  trade  of  Tadoussac, 
were  now  farmed  out  to  one  Oudiette  and  his 
associates,  who  paid  the  Crown  three  hundred  and 
fifty  thousand  hvres  for  their  privilege.^ 


^  The  annual  return  to  the  king  from  thefervie  du  Canada  was,  for  some 
years,  119,000  francs  (livres).  Out  of  this  were  paid  from  35,000  to  40,000 
francs  a  year  for  "  ordinary  charges."     The  governor,  intendant,  and  all 


1663-1763.]  THE   BEAVER   TRADE.  303 

We  come  now  to  a  trade  far  more  important 
than  all  the  rest  together,  one  which  absorbed 
the  enterprise  of  the  colony,  drained  the  life- 
sap  from  other  branches  of  commerce,  and,  even 
more  than  a  vicious  system  of  government,  kept 
them  in  a  state  of  chronic  debility,  —  the  hardy, 
adventurous,  lawless,  fascinating  fur  trade.  In 
the  eighteenth  century,  Canada  exported  a  mod- 
erate quantity  of  timber,  wheat,  the  herb  called 
ginseng,  and  a  few  other  commodities ;  but  from 
first  to  last  she  lived  chiefly  on  beaver-skins.  The 
government  tried  without  ceasing  to  control  and 
regulate  this  traffic ;  but  it  never  succeeded.  It 
aimed,  above  all  things,  to  bring  the  trade  home 
to  the  colonists,  to  prevent  them  from  going  to 
the  Indians,  and  induce  the  Indians  to  come  to 
them.  To  this  end  a  great  annual  fair  was  estab- 
lished by  order  of  the  king  at  Montreal.  Thither 
every  summer  a  host  of  savages  came  down  from 
the  lakes  in  their  bark  canoes.  A  place  was  assigned 
them  at  a  little  distance  from  the  town.  They 
landed,  drew  up  their  canoes  in  a  line  on  the  bank, 
took  out  their  packs  of  beaver-skins,  set  up  their 
wigwams,  slung  their  kettles,  and  encamped  for 
the  night.  On  the  next  day,  there  was  a  grand 
(council  on  the  common,  between  St.  Paul  Street 
and  the  river.     Speeches  of  compliment  were  made 

Iroaps  except  tlie  small  garrisons  of  Quebec,  Montreal,  and  Three  Rivers, 
were  paid  from  otlier  sources.  There  was  a  time  when  the  balance  must 
have  been  in  the  king's  favor;  but  profit  soon  changed  to  loss,  owing 
partly  to  wars,  partly  to  the  confusion  into  which  the  beaver  trade  soon 
tell.  "  Ilis  Majesty,"  writes  the  minister  to  tlie  governor  in  IG'JS,  "  may 
soon  grow  tired  of  a  colony  which,  far  from  yielding  him  any  prolit,  costs 
Liin  immense  sums  every  year." 


304  TRADE   AND   INDUSTRY.  [1668-1763 

amid  a  solemn  smoking  of  pipes.  The  governor- 
general  was  usually  present,  seated  in  an  arm-chair, 
while  the  visitors  formed  a  ring  about  him,  ranged 
in  the  order  of  their  tribes.  On  the  next  day  the 
trade  began  in  the  same  place.  Merchants  of  high 
and  low  degree  brought  up  their  goods  from  Que- 
bec, and  every  inhabitant  of  Montreal,  of  any  sub- 
stance, sought  a  share  in  the  profit.  Their  booths 
were  set  along  the  palisades  of  the  to^vn,  and  each 
had  an  interpreter,  to  whom  he  usually  promised  a 
certain  portion  of  his  gains.  The  scene  abounded  in 
those  contrasts  —  not  always  edifying,  but  always 
picturesque  —  which  mark  the  whole  course  of 
French  Canadian  history.  Here  was  a  throng  of  In- 
dians armed  with  bows  and  arrows,  war-clubs,  or  the 
cheap  guns  of  the  trade  ;  some  of  them  completely 
naked  except  for  the  feathers  on  their  heads  and  the 
paint  on  their  faces ;  French  bush-rangers  tricked 
out  with  savage  finery  ;  merchants  and  habitants 
in  their  coarse  and  plain  attire,  and  the  grave 
priests  of  St.  Sulpice  robed  in  black.  Order  and 
sobriety  were  their  watchwords,  but  the  wild  gath- 
ering was  beyond  their  control.  The  prohibition 
to  sell  "brandy  could  rarely  be  enforced ;  and  the 
fair  ended  at  times  in  a  pandemonium  of  drunken 
frenzy.  The  rapacity  of  trade,  and  the  license  of 
savages  and  coureurs  de  hois,  had  completely  trans- 
formed the  pious  settlement. 

A  similar  fair  was  established  at  Three  Rivers, 
for  the  Algonquin  tribes  north  of  that  place.  These 
yearly  markets  did  not  fully  answer  the  desired 
object.      There  was  a  constant  tendency  among 


16C3-1763.1  THE  FOREST   TRADE.  305 

the  inliabitants  of  Canada  to  form  settlements  above 
Montreal,  in  order  to  intercept  the  Indians  on  their 
way  down,  drench  them  with  brandy,  and  get  their 
furs  from  them  at  low  rates  in  advance  of  the  fair. 
Such  settlements  were  forbidden,  but  not  prevented . 
The  audacious  "squatter"  defied  edict  and  ordi- 
nance and  the  fury  of  drunken  savages,  and  boldly 
planted  himself  in  the  path  of  the  descending  trade. 
Nor  is  this  a  matter  of  surjDrise  ;  for  he  was  usually 
the  secret  agent  of  some  high  colonial  officer,  an 
intendant,  the  local  governor,  or  the  governor- 
general,  who  often  used  his  power  to  enforce  the 
law  against  others,  and  to  violate  it  himself. 

This  was  not  all;  for  the  more  youthful  and 
vigorous  part  of  the  male  population  soon  began  to 
escape  into  the  woods,  and  trade  with  the  Indians 
far  beyond  the  limits  of  the  remotest  settlements. 
Here,  too,  many  of  them  were  in  league  with  the 
authorities,  who  denounced  the  abuse  while  secretly 
favoring  the  portion  of  it  in  which  they  themselves 
were  interested.  The  home  government,  unable 
to  prevent  the  evil,  tried  to  regulate  it.  Licenses 
were  issued  for  the  forest  trade.^  Their  number 
was  limited  to  twenty-five,  and  the  privileges  Avliich 
they  conferred  varied  at  different  periods.  In  La 
Ilontan's  time,  each  license  authorized  the  depart- 
ure of  two  canoes  loaded  with  goods.  One  canoe 
only  was  afterwards  allowed,  bearing  three  men 
v/ith  about  four  hundred  pounds  of  freight.  The 
licenses  were  sometimes  sold  for  the  profit  of 
government,  but  many  were  given  to  widows  of 

^  Ordres  du  Roy  au  sujet  de  la  Traite  du  Canada,  1681. 
20 


306  TRADE   AND   INDUSTRY.  [1663-1763. 

officers  and  other  needy  persons,  to  the  hospitals, 
or  to  favorites  and  retainers  of  the  governor.  Those 
Avho  could  not  themselves  use  them  sold  them  to 
merchants  or  voyageurs,  at  a  price  varying  from  a 
thousand  to  eighteen  hundred  francs.  They  were 
valid  for  a  year  and  a  half ;  and  each  canoeman 
had  a  share  in  the  profits,  which,  if  no  accident 
happened,  were  very  large.  The  license  system 
was  several  times  suppressed  and  renewed  again ; 
but,  like  the  fair  at  Montreal,  it  failed  completely 
to  answer  its  purpose,  and  restrain  the  young 
men  of  Canada  from  a  general  exodus  into  the 
wilderness.^ 

The  most  characteristic  features  of  the  Canadian 
fur  trade  still  remain  to  be  seen.  Oudiette  and 
his  associates  were  not  only  charged  with  collect- 
ing the  revenue,  but  were  also  vested  with  an 
exclusive  right  of  transporting  all  the  beaver-skins 
of  the  colony  to  France.  On  their  part  they  were 
compelled  to  receive  all  beaver-skins  brought  to 
their  magazines;  and,  after  deducting  the  fourth 
belonging  to  the  king,  to  pay  for  the  rest  at  a  fixed 
price.  This  price  was  graduated  to  the  different 
qualities  of  the  fur;  but  the  average  cost  to  the 
collectors  was  a  little  more  than  three  francs  a 
pound.  The  inhabitants  could  barter  their  furs 
with  merchants ;  but  the  merchants  must  bring 
them  all  to  the  magazines  of  Oudiette,  who  paid  in 
receipts  convertible  into  bills  of  exchange.  He 
soon   found  himseK  burdened  with  such  a  mass 

1  Before  pie  is  one  of  these  licenses,  signed  by  the  governor  Denon- 
ville.     A  condition  of  carrying  no  brandy  is  appended  to  it. 


.663-1763.]       TROUBLE  AND  CHANGE.  307 

of  beaver-skins,  that  the  market  was  completely 
glutted.  The  French  hatters  refused  to  take  them 
all ;  and  for  the  part  which  they  consented  to  take, 
they  paid  chiefly  in  hats,  which  Oudiette  was  not 
allowed  to  sell  in  France,  but  only  in  the  French 
West  Indies,  where  few  people  wanted  them.  An 
unlucky  fashion  of  small  hats  diminished  the  con- 
sumption of  fur  and  increased  his  embarrassments, 
as  did  also  a  practice  common  among  the  hatters 
of  mixing  rabbit  fur  with  the  beaver.  In  his 
extremity  he  bethought  him  of  setting  up  a  hat 
factory  for  himself  under  the  name  of  a  certain 
licensed  hatter,  thinking  thereby  to  alarm  his  cus- 
tomers into  buying  his  stock. ^  The  other  hatters 
rose  in  wrath  and  petitioned  the  minister.  The 
new  factory  was  suppressed,  and  Oudiette  soon 
became  bankrupt.  Another  company  of  farmers 
of  the  revenue  took  his  place  mth  similar  results. 
The  action  of  the  law  of  supply  and  demand  was 
completely  arrested  by  the  peremptory  edict  which, 
mth  a  view  to  the  prosperity  of  the  colony  and 
the  profit  of  the  king,  required  the  company  to 
take  every  beaver-skin  offered. 

All  Canada,  thinking  itself  sure  of  its  price, 
rushed  into  the  beaver  trade,  and  the  accumulation 
of  unsalable  furs  became  more  and  more  suffo- 
cating. The  farmers  of  the  revenue  could  not 
meet  their  engagements.  Their  bills  of  exchange 
were  unpaid,  and  Canada  was  filled  ^vith  distress 
and  consternation.  In  1700,  a  change  of  system 
was  ordered.     The  monopoly  of  exporting  beaver 

J  M^moire  touchant  le  Commerce  du  Canada,  1687. 


308  TRADE   AND   INDUSTRY.  [1663-1763 

was  placed  in  the  hands  of  a  company  formed  of 
the  chief  inhabitants  of  Canada.  Some  of  them 
hesitated  to  take  the  risk ;  but  the  government 
was  not  to  be  trifled  \vith,  and  the  minister,  Pon- 
chartrain,  wrote  in  terms  so  peremptory,  and  so 
menacing  to  the  recusants,  that,  in  the  words  of  a 
writer  of  the  time,  he  "  shut  everybody's  mouth." 
About  a  hundred  and  fifty  merchants  accordingly 
subscribed  to  the  stock  of  the  new  comjDany,  and 
immediately  petitioned  the  king  for  a  ship  and  a 
loan  of  seven  hundred  thousand  francs.  They 
were  required  to  take  off  the  hands  of  the  farmers 
of  the  revenue  an  accumulation  of  more  than  six 
hundred  thousand  pounds  of  beaver,  for  which, 
however,  they  were  to  pay  but  half  its  usual  price. 
The  market  of  France  absolutely  refused  it,  and 
the  directors  of  the  new  company  saw  no  better 
course  than  to  burn  three-fourths  of  the  trouble- 
some and  perishable  commodity ;  nor  was  this  the 
first  resort  to  this  strange  expedient.  One  cannot 
repress  a  feeling  of  indignation  at  the  fate  of  the 
interesting  and  unfortunate  animals  uselessly  sacri- 
ficed to  a  false  economic  system.  In  order  to  rid 
themselves  of  what  remained,  the  directors  begged 
the  Idng  to  issue  a  decree,  requiring  all  hatters  to 
put  at  least  three  ounces  of  genuine  beaver-fur 
into  each  hat. 

All  was  in  vain.  The  affairs  of  the  company  fell 
into  a  confusion  which  was  aggravated  by  the  bad 
faith  of  some  of  its  chief  members.  In  1707,  it  was 
succeeded  by  another  company,  to  whose  magazines 
every  habitant  or  merchant  was  ordered  to  bring 


1663-1768.]  THE   COUREURS  DE  BOIS.  309 

every  beaver-skin  in  his  possession  within  forty- 
eight  hours ;  and  the  company,  Hke  its  predeces- 
sors, was  required  to  receive  it,  and  pay  for  it  in 
written  promises.  Again  the  market  was  over- 
whelmed with  a  surfeit  of  beaver.  Again  the  bills 
of  exchange  were  unpaid,  and  all  was  confusion 
and  distress.  Among  the  memorials  and  petitions 
to  which  this  state  of  things  gave  birth,  there  is 
one  conspicuous  by  the  presence  of  good  sense 
and  the  absence  of  self-interest.  The  writer  pro- 
poses that  there  should  be  no  more  monopoly,  but 
that  everybody  should  be  free  to  buy  beaver-sldns 
and  send  them  to  France,  subject  only  to  a  mod- 
erate duty  of  entry.  The  proposal  was  not  accepted. 
In  1721,  the  monopoly  of  exporting  beaver-skins 
was  given  to  the  new  West  India  Company ;  but 
this  time  it  was  provided  that  the  government 
should  direct  from  time  to  time,  according  to  the 
capacities  of  the  market,  the  quantity  of  furs  which 
the  company  should  be  forced  to  receive.' 

Out  of  the  beaver  trade  rose  a  huge  evil,  baneful, 
to  the  growth  and  the  morals  of  Canada.     All  that 
was  most  active  and  vigorous  in  the  colony  took 
to  the  woods,  and  escaped  from  the  control  of  in- 
tendants,  councils,  and  priests,  to  the  savage  free- 

1  On  the  fur  trade  the  documents  consulted  are  very  numerous.  The 
folio iving  are  the  most  inij)ortant:  Mifmoire  snr  ce  qui  coticerne  le  Com- 
merce (III  Castor  et  ses  d^pendances,  1715;  Mtfmoire  eoncernant  le  Commerce 
de  Traite  entre  les  Franqois  et.  les  Saiivucjes,  1691  ;  M^moire  sur  le  Canada 
address^  an  Rifr/ent,  1715;  M^moi're  sur  les  Affaires  de  Canada  dans  Iciir 
Estat  present,  1696  ;  M^nioire  des  Negotiants  de  la  RocheJIe  qui  font  Commerce 
en  Canada  snr  la  Proposition  de  ne  plus  rerevoir  les  Castors  et  d'cnj/aiier  lea 
Habitants  a  la  Culture  des  Terres  et  Pesche  de  la  Molne,  1G96 ;  M€nioire  du 
Sr.  Riverin  sur  la  Traite  et  la  Ferme  du  Castor,  1G96;  M€moire  touchant  U 
Commerce  da  Canada,  1687,  etc. 


310  TRADE   AND   INDUSTRY.  [1663- 17()3 

dom  of  the  wilderness.  Not  only  were  the  possible 
profits  great ;  but,  in  the  pursuit  of  them,  there  was 
a  fascinating  element  of  adventure  and  danger. 
The  bush-rangers  or  coureurs  de  bois  were  to  the 
king  an  object  of  horror.  They  defeated  his  plans 
for  the  increase  of  the  population,  and  shocked  his 
native  instinct  of  discipline  and  order.  Edict  after 
edict  was  directed  against  them ;  and  more  than 
once  the  colony  j^resented  the  extraordinary  spec- 
tacle of  the  greater  part  of  its  young  men 
turned  into  forest  outlaws.  But  severity  was  dan- 
gerous. The  offenders  might  be  driven  over  to 
the  English,  or  converted  into  a  lawless  banditti, 
renegades  of  civilization  and  the  faith.  Therefore, 
clemency  alternated  with  rigor,  and  declarations 
of  amnesty  with  edicts  of  proscription.  Neither 
threats  nor  blandishments  were  of  much  avail. 
We  hear  of  seigniories  abandoned ;  farms  turning 
again  into  forests ;  wives  and  children  left  in  desti- 
tution. The  exodus  of  the  coiireui^s  de  hois  would 
take,  at  times,  the  character  of  an  organized  move- 
ment. The  famous  Du  Lhut  is  said  to  have  made 
a  general  combination  of  the  young  men  of  Canada 
to  follow  him  into  the  woods.  Their  plan  was  to 
be  absent  four  years,  in  order  that  the  edicts  against 
them  might  have  time  to  relent.  The  mtendant 
Duchesneau  reported  that  eight  hundred  men  out 
of  a  population  of  less  than  ten  thousand  souls  had 
vanished  from  sight  in  the  immensity  of  a  bound- 
less wilderness.  Whereupon  the  king  ordered  that 
any  person  going  into  the  woods  without  a  license 
should  be  whipped  and  branded  for  the  first  offence, 


1663-1763.J  THE   COUREURS   DE   BOIS.  oll 

and  sent  lor  life  to  the  galleys  for  the  second.' 
The  order  was  more  easily  given  than  enforced. 
"  I  must  not  conceal  from  you,  monseigneur,"  again 
writes  Duchesneau,  "  that  the  disobedience  of  the 
com^eurs  de  hois  has  reached  such  a  point  that 
everybody  boldly  contravenes  the  king's  interdic- 
tions ;  that  there  is  no  longer  any  concealment ; 
find  that  parties  are  collected  with  astonishing  in- 
solence to  go  and  trade  in  the  Indian  country.  I 
have  done  all  in  my  power  to  prevent  this  evil, 
which  may  cause  the  ruin  of  the  colony.  I  have 
enacted  ordinances  against  the  cou7^eurs  de  hois; 
against  the  merchants  who  furnish  them  with  goods , 
against  the  gentlemen  and  others  who  harbor  them, 
and  even  against  those  who  have  any  knowledge 
of  them,  and  will  not  inform  the  local  judges.  All 
has  been  in  vain ;  inasmuch  as  some  of  the  most 
considerable  famihes  are  interested  with  them,  and 
the  governor  lets  them  go  on  and  even  shares 
their  profits."  ^  "  You  are  aware,  monseigneur," 
writes  Denonville,  some  years  later,  "  that  the 
coureurs  de  hois  are  a  great  evil,  but  you  are  not 
aware  how  great  tliis  evil  is.  It  deprives  the 
country  of  its  effective  men ;  makes  them  indocile, 
debauched,  and  incapable  of  discipline,  and  turns 
them  into  pretended  nobles,  wearing  the  sword 
and  decked  out  with  lace,  both  they  and  their 
relations,  avIio  all  affect  to  be  gentlemen  and  ladies. 
As  for  cultivating  the  soil,  they  wiU  not  hear  of  it. 

1  Le  Ro}/  a  Frontenac,  30  Avril,  1G81.     On  anotlier  occasion,  it  was 
ordered  that  any  person  thus  offending  sliould  sutler  deatli. 

2  N.  Y.  Colonial  Docs.,  IX.  131. 


312  TRADE   AND   INDUSTRY.  [1663-1763. 

This,  along  with  the  scattered  condition  of  the 
settlements,  causes  their  children  to  be  as  unruly 
as  Indians,  being  brought  up  in  the  same  manner. 
Not  that  there  are  not  some  very  good  people  here, 
but  they  are  in  a  minority."  ^  In  another  despatch 
he  enlarges  on  their  vagabond  and  lawless  ways, 
their  indifference  to  marriage,  and  the  mischief 
caused  by  their  example;  describes  how,  on  their 
return  from  the  woods,  they  swagger  like  lords, 
spend  all  their  gains  in  dress  and  drunken  revelry, 
and  despise  the  peasants,  whose  daughters  they 
will  not  deign  to  marry,  though  they  are  peasants 
themselves. 

It  was  a  curious  scene  when  a  party  of  coureiu^s 
de  hois  returned  from  their  rovings.  Montreal 
was  their  harboring  place,  and  they  conducted 
themselves  much  like  the  crew  of  a  man-of-war 
paid  off  after  a  long  voyage.  As  long  as  their 
beaver-skins  lasted,  they  set  no  bounds  to  their 
riot.  Every  house  in  the  place,  we  are  told,  was 
turned  into  a  drinldng  shop.  The  new-comers 
were  bedizened  with  a  strano-e  mixture  of  French 
and  Indian  finery ;  while  some  of  them,  with  in- 
stincts more  thorouglily  savage,  stalked  about  the 
streets  as  naked  as  a  Pottawattamie  or  a  Sioux, 
The  clamor  of  tongues  was  prodigious,  and  gam- 
bling and  drinking  filled  the  day  and  the  night. 
When  at  last  they  were  sober  again,  they  sought 
absolution  for  their  sins;  nor  could  the  priests 
venture  to  bear  too  hard  on  their  unruly  penitents, 

1  DenoDTille,  M€moire  sur  I'Estat  des  Affaires  de  la  Nouvdle  France. 


1663-1763.]  THE   COUREURS   DE   BOIS.  313 

lest  they  slioiilcl  break  wholly  with  the  church  and 
dispense  thenceforth  with  her  sacraments. 

Under  such  leaders  as  Du  Lhut,  the  coureurs  de 
hois  built  forts  of  palisades  at  various  points 
throughout  the  West  and  Northwest.  They  had 
a  post  of  this  sort  at  Detroit  some  time  before  its 
permanent  settlement,  as  well  as  others  on  Lake 
Superior  and  in  the  valley  of  the  Mississij)pi.  They 
occupied  them  as  long  as  it  suited  their  purposes, 
and  then  abandoned  them  to  the  next  comer. 
Michillimackinac  was,  however,  their  chief  resort ; 
and  thence  they  would  set  out,  two  or  three 
together,  to  roam  for  hundreds  of  miles  through 
the  endless  meshwork  of  interlocking  lakes  and 
rivers  which  seams  the  northern  wilderness. 

No  wonder  that  a  year  or  two  of  bush-ranging 
spoiled  them  for  civilization.  Though  not  a  very 
valuable  member  of  society,  and  though  a  thorn 
in  the  side  of  princes  and  rulers,  the  coureur  de 
hois  had  his  uses,  at  least  from  an  artistic  point  of 
view ;  and  his  strange  figure,  sometimes  brutally 
savage,  but  oftener  marked  with  the  lincis  of  a 
dare-devil  courage,  and  a  reckless,  thoughtless 
gayety,  will  always  be  joined  to  the  memories  of 
that  grand  world  of  woods  which  the  nineteenth 
century  is  fast  civilizing  out  of  existence.  At  least, 
he  is  picturesque,  and  with  his  red-skin  companion 
serves  to  animate  forest  scenery.  Perhaps  he  could 
sometimes  feel,  without  knowing  that  he  felt  them, 
the  charms  of  the  savage  nature  that  had  adopted 
him.  Rude  as  he  was,  her  voice  may  not  always 
have   been   meaningless   for   one  who   knew  her 


314  TRADE   AND   INDUSTRY.  [1663-1763. 

haunts  so  well ;  deep  recesses  where,  veiled  m 
foliage,  some  wild  shy  rivulet  steals  with  timid 
music  through  breatliless  caves  of  verdure ;  gulfs 
where  feathered  crags  rise  hke  castle  walls,  where 
the  noonday  sun  pierces  with  keen  rays  athwart 
the  torrent,  and  the  mossed  arms  of  fallen  pines 
cast  wavering  shadows  on  the  illumined  foam ; 
pools  of  liquid  crystal  turned  emerald  in  the  re- 
flected green  of  impending  woods ;  rocks  on  whose 
rugged  front  the  gleam  of  sunlit  waters  dances  in 
quivering  hght ;  ancient  trees  hurled  headlong  by 
the  storm  to  dam  the  raging  stream  with  their 
forlorn  and  savage  ruin ;  or  the  stern  depths  of 
immemorial  forests,  dim  and  silent  as  a  cavern, 
columned  with  innumerable  trunks,  each  like  an 
Atlas  upholding  its  world  of  leaves,  and  sweating 
perpetual  moisture  down  its  dark  and  channelled 
rind ;  some  strong  in  youth,  some  grisly  with 
decrepit  age,  nightmares  of  strange  distortion, 
gnarled  and  knotted  with  wens  and  goitres  ; 
roots  intertwined  beneath  Uke  serpents  petrified 
in  an  agony  of  contorted  strife  ;  green  and 
glistening  mosses  carpeting  the  rough  ground, 
mantling  the  rocks,  turning  pulpy  stumps  to 
mounds  of  verdure,  and  swathing  fallen  trunks 
as  bent  in  the  impotence  of  rottenness,  they  lie 
outstretched  over  knoll  and  hollow,  like  moulder- 
ing reptiles  of  the  primeval  world,  wliile  around, 
and  on  and  through  them,  springs  the  young 
growth  that  battens  on  their  decay,  —  the  forest 
devouring  its  own  dead.  Or,  to  turn  from  its 
funereal  shade  to  the  light  and  life  of  the  open 


1663-1763.]  LETTER   OF   CARHEIL.  315 

woodland,  the  sheen  of  sparlding  lakes,  and  mount- 
ains basking  in  the  glory  of  the  summer  noon, 
flecked  by  the  shadows  of  passing  clouds  that  sail 
on  snowy  wings  across  the  transparent  azure. 

Yet  it  would  be  false  coloring  to  paint  the 
half-savage  coureur  de  hois  as  a  romantic  lover 
of  nature.  He  hked  the  woods  because  they 
emancipated  him  from  restraint.  He  liked  the 
lounging  ease  of  the  camp-fire,  and  the  license  of 
Indian  villages.  His  life  has  a  dark  and  ugly  side, 
which  is  nowhere  drawn  more  strongly  than  in  a 
letter  written  by  the  Jesuit  Carheil  to  the  intend- 
ant  Champigny.  It  was  at  a  time  when  some  of 
the  outlying  forest  posts,  originally  either  missions 
or  transient  stations  of  coiu^eurs  de  hois,  had  re- 
ceived regular  garrisons.  Carheil  writes  from 
Michillimacldnac,  and  describes  the  state  of  things 
around  him  Hke  one  whom  long  familiarity  mth 
them  had  stripped  of  every  illusion. 

But  here,  for  the  present,  we  pause ;  for  the 
father  touches  on  other  matters  than  the  coureurs 
de  hois,  and  we  reserve  him  and  his  letter  for  the 
next  chapter. 


CHAPTER   XVm. 

1663-1702. 

THE   MISSIONS.    THE  BRANDY  QUESTION. 

The  Jesuits  and  the  Iroquois.  —  Mission  Villages.  —  Michilli- 
MACKINAC.  —  Father  Carheil.  —  Temperance.  —  Brandt  and 
THE  Indians.  —  Strong  Measures.  —  Disputes.  —  License  and 
Prohibition.  —  Views  of  the  King.  —  Trade  and  the  Jesuits. 

For  a  year  or  two  after  De  Tracy  had  chastised 
the  Mohawks,  and  humbled  the  other  Iroquois 
nations,  all  was  rose  color  on  the  side  of  that 
dreaded  confederacy.  The  Jesuits,  defiant  as  usual 
of  hardship  and  death,  had  begun  their  ruined 
missions  anew.  Bruyas  took  the  Mission  of  the 
Martyrs  among  the  Mohawks ;  Milet,  that  of  Saint 
Francis  Xavier,  among  the  Oneidas ;  Lamberville, 
that  of  Saint  John  the  Baptist  among  the  Onon- 
dagas ;  Carheil,  that  of  Saint  Joseph  among  the 
Cayugas ;  and  Raffeix  and  Julien  Garnier  shared 
between  them  the  three  missions  of  the  Senecas. 
The  Iroquois,  after  their  punishment,  were  in  a 
frame  of  mind  so  hopeful,  that  the  fathers  imagined 
for  a  moment  that  they  were  all  on  the  point  of 
accepting  the  faith.  This  was  a  consummation 
earnestly  to  be  wished,  not  only  from  a  religious, 
but   also   from   a   political    point   of   view.      The 


1663-1702.]     THE  JESUITS   AND   THE   IROQUOIS.  317 

complete  conversion  of  the  Iroquois  meant  their 
estrangement  from  the  heretic  EngHsh  and  Dutch, 
and  their  firm  alliance  with  the  French.  It  meant 
safety  for  Canada,  and  it  ensured  for  her  the  fur 
trade  of  the  interior  freed  from  English  rivalry. 
Hence  the  importance  of  these  missions,  and  hence 
their  double  character.  jWhile  the  Jesuit  toiled 
to  convert  his  savage  hosts,  he  watched  them  at 
the  same  time  with  the  eye  of  a  shrewd  political 
agent ;  reported  at  Quebec  the  result  of  his  obser- 
vations, and  by  every  means  in  his  power  sought 
to  alienate  them  from  England,  and  attach  them 
to  France. 

Their  simple  conversion,  by  placing  them  wholly 
under  his  influence,  would  have  outweighed  in 
political  value  all  other  agencies  combined ;  but 
the  flattering  hopes  of  the  earlier  years  soon  van- 
ished. Some  petty  successes  against  other  tribes 
so  elated  the  Iroquois,  that  they  ceased  to  care  for 
French  alliance  or  French  priests.  Then  a  few 
petty  reverses  would  dash  their  spirits,  and  dispose 
them  again  to  listen  to  Jesuit  counsels.  Every 
success  of  a  war-party  was  a  loss  to  the  faith,  and 
every  reverse  was  a  gain.  Meanwhile  a  more  re- 
pulsive or  a  more  critical  existence  than  that  of  a 
Jesuit  father  in  an  Iroquois  town  is  scarcely  con- 
ceivable. The  torture  of  prisoners  turned  into  a 
horrible  festivity  for  the  whole  tribe ;  foul  and 
crazy  orgies  in  which,  as  the  priest  thought,  the 
powers  of  darkness  took  a  special  delight ;  drunken 
riots,  the  worlc  of  Dutch  brandy,  when  be  was 
forced  to  seek  refuge  from  death  in  his  chapel,  — 


318  THE  MISSIONS.    BRANDT  QUESTION.    [1663-1702 

a  sanctuary  which  superstitious  fear  withheld  the 
Indians  from  violating  ;  these,  and  a  thousand  dis- 
gusts and  miseries,  filled  the  record  of  his  days, 
and  he  bore  them  all  in  patience.  Not  only  were 
the  early  Canadian  Jesuits  men  of  an  intense 
religious  zeal,  but  they  were  also  men  who  lived 
not  for  themselves  but  for  their  order.  Their 
faults  were  many  and  great,  but  the  grandeur  of 
their  self-devotion  towers  conspicuous  over  all. 

At  Caughnawaga,  near  Montreal,  may  still  be 
seen  the  remnants  of  a  mission  of  converted  Iro- 
quois, whom  the  Jesuits  induced  to  leave  the 
temptations  of  their  native  towns  and  settle  here, 
under  the  wing  of  the  church.  They  served  as  a 
bulwark  against  the  English,  and  sometimes  did 
good  service  in  time  of  war.  At  Sillery,  near 
Quebec,  a  band  of  Abenaquis,  escaping  from  the 
neighborhood  of  the  English  towards  the  close  of 
Philip's  War,  formed  another  mission  of  similar 
character.  The  Sulpitians  had  a  third  at  the  foot  of 
the  mountain  of  Montreal,  where  two  massive  stone 
towers  of  the  fortified  Indian  town  are  standing  to 
this  day.  All  these  converted  savages,  as  well  as 
those  of  Lorette  and  other  missions  far  and  near, 
were  used  as  allies  in  war,  and  launched  in  scalping 
parties  against  the  border  settlements  of  New 
England. 

Not  only  the  Sulpitians,  but  also  the  seminary 
priests  of  Quebec,  the  Recollets,  and  even  the  Ca- 
puchins, had  missions  more  or  less  important,  and 
more  or  less  permanent;  but  the  Jesuits  stood 
always  in  the  van  of  religious  and  political  propa- 


1G63-1702.]  MICHILLIMACKINAC.  ol9 

ganclism ;  and  all  the  forest  tribes  felt  their  influence, 
from  Acadia  and  Maine  to  the  plains  beyond  the 
Mississippi.  Next  in  importance  to  their  Iroquois 
missions  were  those  among  the  Algonquins  of  the 
northern  lakes.  Here  was  the  grand  domain  of 
the  beaver  trade ;  and  the  chief  woes  of  the  mis- 
sionary sprang  not  from  the  Indians,  but  from  his 
own  countrymen.  Beaver-skins  had  produced  an 
effect  akin  to  that  of  gold  in  our  own  day,  and  the 
deepest  recesses  of  the  wilderness  were  invaded  by 
eager  seekers  after  gain.  The  focus  of  the  evil 
was  at  Father  Marquette's  old  mission  of  Michilli- 
mackinac.  First,  year  after  year  came  a  riotous 
invasion  of  coureurs  de  hois,  and  then  a  garrison 
followed  to  croAvn  the  mischief.  Discipline  was 
very  weak  at  these  advanced  posts,  and,  to  eke 
out  their  pay,  the  soldiers  were  allowed  to  trade ; 
brandy,  whether  permitted  or  interdicted,  being 
the  chief  article  of  barter.  Father  Etienne  Carheil 
was  driven  almost  to  despair ;  and  he  wrote  to  the 
intendant,  his  fast  friend  and  former  pupil,  the  long 
letter  already  mentioned.  "  Our  missions,"  he 
says,  "  are  reduced  to  such  extremity  that  we  can 
no  longer  maintain  them  against  the  infinity  of 
disorder,  brutality,  violence,  injustice,  impiety, 
impurity,  insolence,  scorn,  and  insult,  which  the 
deplorable  and  infamous  trafBc  in  brandy  has 
spread  universally  among  tlie  Indians  of  these 
parts.  ...  In  the  despair  in  which  we  are  plunged, 
nothing  remains  for  us  but  to  abandon  them  to  the 
brandy  sellers  as  a  domain  of  drunkenness  and 
debauchery." 


320  THE  MISSIONS.     BRANDY  QUESTION.     [1G63-1702. 

Ho  complains  bitterly  of  the  officers  in  command 
of  the  fort,  who,  he  says,  far  from  repressing  dis- 
orders, encourage  them  by  their  example,  and  are 
even  worse  than  their  subordinates,  "  insomuch  that 
all  our  Indian  villages  are  so  many  taverns  for 
drunkenness  and  Sodoms  for  iniquity,  which  we 
shall  be  forced  to  leave  to  the  just  wrath  and  ven- 
geance of  God."  He  insists  that  the  garrisons  are 
entirely  useless,  as  they  have  only  four  occuj)a- 
tions :  first,  to  keep  open  liquor  shops  for  crowds 
of  drunken  Indians ;  secondly,  to  roam  from  place 
to  place,  carrying  goods  and  brandy  under  the 
orders  of  the  commandant,  who  shares  their  profits ; 
thirdly,  to  gamble  day  and  night ;  fourthly,  to  "  turn 
the  fort  into  a  place  which  I  am  ashamed  to  call 
by  its  right  name ; "  and  he  describes,  with  a  curious 
amplitude  of  detail,  the  swarms  of  Indian  girls  who 
are  hired  to  make  it  their  resort.  "  Such,  mon- 
seigneur,  are  the  only  employments  of  the  soldiers 
maintained  here  so  many  years.  If  this  can  be 
called  doing  the  king  service,  I  admit  that  such 
service  is  done  for  him  here  now,  and  has  always 
been  done  for  him  here  ;  but  I  never  saw  any  other 
done  in  my  life."  He  further  declares  that  the 
commandants  oppose  and  malign  the  missionaries, 
while  of  the  presents  which  the  king  sends  up 
the  country  for  distribution  to  the  Indians,  they,  the 
Indians,  get  nothing  but  a  little  tobacco,  and  the 
officer  keeps  the  rest  for  himself.^ 

1  Of  the  officers  in  command  at  Michillimackinac  while  Carlieil  was 

there,  he  pai*tially  excepts  La  Durantaye  from  his  strictures,  but  bears 

,  rery  hard  on  La  Motte-Cadillac,  who  hated  the  Jesuits  and  was  liated  by 

them  in  turn.    La  Motte,  on  liis  part,  writes  that  "  the  missionaries  wish 


1663-1702.1  MICHILLIMACKINAC.  321 

From  the  misconduct  of  officers  and  soldiers,  he 
passes  to  that  of  the  coureuj'S  de  hois  and  hcensed 
traders ;  and  here  he  is  equally  severe.  He  dilates 
on  the  evils  which  result  from  permitting  the  colo- 
nists to  go  to  the  Indians  instead  of  requiring  the 
Indians  to  come  to  the  settlements.  "  It  serves 
only  to  rob  the  country  of  all  its  young  men,  weaken 
families,  deprive  wives  of  their  husbands,  sisters  of 
their  brothers,  and  parents  of  their  children ;  expose 
the  voyagers  to  a  hundred  dangers  of  body  and 
soul ;  involve  them  in  a  multitude  of  expenses, 
some  necessary,  some  useless,  and  some  criminal ; 
accustom  them  to  do  no  work,  and  at  last  disgust 
them  with  it  for  ever ;  make  them  live  in  constant 
idleness,  unlit  them  completely  for  any  trade,  and 
render  them  useless  to  themselves,  their  families, 
and  the  public.  But  it  is  less  as  regards  the  body 
than  as  regards  the  soul,  that  this  traffic  of  the 
French  among  the  savages  is  infinitely  hurtful.  It 
carries  them  far  away  from  churches,  separates 
them  from  priests  and  nuns,  and  severs  them  from 
all  instruction,  all  exercise  of  religion,  and  all 
spiritual  aid.  It  sends  them  into  places  wild  and 
almost  inaccessible,  through  a  thousand  perils  by 
land  and  w^ater,  to  carry  on  by  base,  abject,  and 
shameful  means  a  trade  which  would  much  better 
be  carried  on  at  Montreal." 

But  in   the  complete  transfer  of  the  trade  to 
Montreal,  he  sees  insuperable  difficulties,  and  ho 

to  be  masters  wliercver  they  are,  anil  cannot  tolerate  anybody  above 
themselves."  N.  Y.  Colonial  Does.,  IX.  587.  For  much  more  emphatic 
expressions  of  his  views  concerning  them,  see  two  letters  from  him,  trans- 
lat<d  in  Sheldon's  Early  History  of  Michigan. 

21 


H22  THE  MISSIONS.     BRANDY  QUESTION.     [1663-1702. 

proceeds  to  suggest,  as  the  last  and  best  resort,  that 
garrisons  and  officers  should  be  withdrawn,  and 
licenses  abolished ;  that  discreet  and  virtuous  per- 
sons should  be  chosen  to  take  charge  of  all  the 
trade  of  the  upper  country ;  that  these  persons 
should  be  in  perfect  sympathy  and  correspondence 
with  the  Jesuits ;  and  that  the  trade  should  bo 
carried  on  at  the  missions  of  the  Jesuits  and  in 
their  presence.^ 

This  letter  brings  us  again  face  to  face  with  the 
brandy  question,  of  which  we  have  seen  something 
already  in  the  quarrel  between  Avaugour  and  the 
bishop.  In  the  summer  of  1648,  there  was  held 
at  the  mission  of  Sillery  a  temperance  meeting; 
the  first  in  all  probability  on  this  continent.  The 
drum  beat  after  mass,  and  the  Indians  gathered  at 
the  summons.  Then  an  Algonquin  chief,  a  zealous 
convert  of  the  Jesuits,  proclaimed  to  the  crowd  a 
late  edict  of  the  governor  imposing  penalties  for 
drunkenness,  and,  in  his  own  name  and  that  of 
the  other  chiefs,  exhorted  them  to  abstinence, 
declaring  that  all  drunkards  should  be  handed  over 
to  the  French  for  punishment.  Father  Jerome 
Lalemant  looked  on  delighted.  "  It  was,"  he  says, 
"  the  finest  public  act  of  jurisdiction  exercised 
among  the  Indians  since  I  have  been  in  this  coun- 
try. From  the  beginning  of  the  world  they  have 
all  thought  themselves  as  great  lords,  the  one  as 
the  other,  and  never  before  submitted  to  their 
chiefs  any  further  than  they  chose  to  do  so."  ^ 

1  LeUre  du  Pere  Etienne  Carheil  de  la  Compagnte  de  J^sus  a  Vlntendani 
Champigny,  MichilUmackinac,  30  Aout,  1702  {Archives  Nationales)- 
'i  Lalemant,  Rel,  1618,  p.  43. 


1663-1702.1  BRANDT  AND   THE  INDIANS.  323 

There  was  great  need  of  reform ;  for  a  demon 
of  drunkenness  seemed  to  possess  these  unhappy 
tribes.  Nevertheless,  with  all  their  rage  for  brandy, 
they  sometimes  showed  in  regard  to  it  a  self-con- 
trol quite  admirable  in  its  way.  When  at  a  fair, 
a  council,  or  a  friendly  visit,  their  entertainers 
regaled  them  with  rations  of  the  coveted  liquor, 
so  prudently  measured  out  that  they  could  not  be 
the  worse  for  it,  they  would  unite  their  several  por- 
tions in  a  common  stock,  wliich  they  would  then 
divide  among  a  few  of  their  number,  thus  enabling 
them  to  attain  that  complete  intoxication  w^hich,  in 
their  view,  was  the  true  end  of  all  drinking.  The 
objects  of  this  singular  benevolence  were  expected 
to  requite  it  in  kind  on  some  future  occasion. 

A  drunken  Indian  with  weapons  within  reach, 
was  very  dangerous,  and  all  prudent  persons  kept 
out  of  his  w^ay.  This  greatly  pleased  him;  for, 
seeing  everybody  run  before  him,  he  fancied  him- 
self a  great  cliief,  and  howled  and  swung  his  toma- 
hawk with  redoubled  fury.  If,  as  often  happened, 
he  maimed  or  murdered  some  wretch  not  nimble 
enough  to  escape,  his  countrymen  absolved  him 
from  all  guilt,  and  blamed  only  the  brandy.  Hence, 
if  an  Indian  wished  to  take  a  safe  revenge  on  some 
personal  enemy,  he  would  pretend  to  be  drunk ; 
and,  not  only  murders  but  other  crimes  were  often 
committed  by  false  claimants  to  the  bacchanalian 
privilege. 

In  the  eyes  of  the  missionaries,  brandy  was  a 
fiend  with  all  crimes  and  miseries  in  his  train ; 
and,  in  fact,  nothing  earthly  could  better  deserve 


324  THE  MISSIONS.    BRANDY  QUESTION.      [1663-1702. 

the  epithet  infernal  than  an  Indian  town  in 
the  heio'ht  of  a  drunken  debauch.  The  orgies 
never  ceased  till  the  bottom  of  the  barrel  was 
reached.  Then  came  repentance,  despair,  wailing, 
and  bitter  invective  against  the  white  men,  the 
cause  of  all  the  woe.  In  the  name  of  the  public 
good,  of  humanity,  and  above  all  of  religion,  the 
bishop  and  the  Jesuits  denounced  the  fatal  traffic. 

Their  case  was  a  strong  one ;  but  so  was  the 
case  of  their  opponents.  There  was  real  and  immi- 
nent danger  that  the  thirsty  savages,  if  refused 
brandy  by  the  French,  would  seek  it  from  the 
Dutch  and  Eno;lisli  of  New  York.  It  was  the  most 
potent  lure  and  the  most  Idlling  bait.  Wherever 
it  was  found,  thither  the  Indians  and  their  beaver- 
skins  were  sure  to  go,  and  the  interests  of  the  fur 
trade,  vital  to  the  colony,  were  bound  up  with  it. 
Nor  was  this  all,  for  the  merchants  and  the  civil 
powers  insisted  that  rehgion  and  the  saving  of 
souls  were  bound  up  with  it  no  less ;  since,  to  repel 
the  Indians  from  the  Catholic  French,  and  attract 
them  to  the  heretic  English,  was  to  turn  them  from 
ways  of  grace  to  ways  of  perdition.^  The  argu- 
ment, no  doubt,  was  dashed  largely  "with  hypocrisy 
in  those  who  used  it ;  but  it  was  one  which  the 
priests  were  greatly  perplexed  to  answer. 

In  former  days,  when  Canada  was  not  yet  trans- 
formed from  a  mission  to  a  colony,  the  Jesuits 
entered  with  a  high  hand  on  the  work  of  reform. 

•  "  Ce  commerce  est  absolument  necessaire  x>our  attirer  les  sauragea 
dans  les  colonies  fran9oises,  et  par  ce  moyen  leur  donner  les  premieres 
teintures  de  la  ioy."  M€moire  de  Colbert,  joint  a  sa  leltre  it  Duchesneau  du 
24  Mai,  1G78. 


1G63-1702.]  STRONG   MEASURES.  325 

It  fared  hard  with  the  culprit  caught  in  the  act 
of  selling  brandy  to  Indians.  They  led  him,  after 
the  sermon,  to  the  door  of  the  church ;  where,  kneel- 
ing on  the  pavement,  partially  stript  and  bearing 
in  his  hand  the  penitential  torch,  he  underwent  a 
vigorous  flagellation,  laid  on  by  Father  Le  Mercier 
himself,  after  the  fashion  formerly  practised  in  the 
case  of  refractory  school-boys.'  Bishop  Laval  not 
only  discharged  against  the  offenders  volleys  of 
wholesale  excommunication,  but  he  made  of  the 
offence  a  ''  reserved  case  ;  "  that  is,  a  case  in  which 
the  power  of  granting  absolution  was  reserved  to 
himself  alone.  This  produced  great  commotion,  and 
a  violent  conflict  between  religious  scruples  and  a 
passion  for  gain.  The  bishop  and  the  Jesuits  stood 
inflexible ;  Avhile  their  opponents  added  bitterness 
to  the  quarrel  by  charging  them  with  permitting 
certain  favored  persons  to  sell  brandy,  unpunished, 
and  even  covertly  selling  it  themselves.^ 

1  M€moire  dc  Dumesnil,  1671. 

2  Lettre  de  Charles  Anbert  de  la  Chesnaye,  24  Oct.,  1693.  After  speak- 
ing of  the  excessive  rigor  of  tlie  bishop,  lie  adds  :  "  L'on  dit,  et  il  est  vrai, 
que  dans  ces  temps  si  faclieux,  sous  pretexte  de  pau?rete'  dans  les  families, 
certaines  gens  avoient  permission  d'en  traiter,  je  crois  toujours  avec  la 
reserve  de  ne  pas  enivrer."  Dumesnil,  A/e'moire  de  1671,  says  that  Laval 
excommunicated  all  brandy-sellers,  "  k  I'exception,  ncanmoins,  de  quel- 
ques  particuliers  qu'il  voulait  favoriser."  He  says  further  that  the  bishop 
and  the  Jesuit  Ragueneau  had  a  clerk  whom  they  employed  at  500  francs 
a  year  tc  trade  with  the  Indians,  paying  them  in  liquors  for  their  furs  ; 
and  that  for  a  time  the  ecclesiastics  had  this  trade  to  themselves,  their 
severities  having  deterred  most  others  from  venturing  into  it.  La  Salle, 
Mifmoire  de  1678,  declares  that,  "  lis  (les  J^auites)  refusent  rabsolution  a 
ceux  qui  ne  veulent  pas  promettre  de  n'en  plus  vendre,  et  s'ils  meurent  en 
cet  c'tat,  ils  les  privent  de  la  sc'pulture  ecclesiastique :  au  contraire,  ils  so 
permettent  a  eux  mesmes  sans  aucune  difficultcce  mesme  trafic,  quoyque 
toute  sorte  de  trafic  soit  interdite  a  tons  les  eccl(5siastiques  par  les  ordon- 
iiances  du  Roy  et  par  une  bulle  expresse  du  Rape."  I  give  these  asser- 
tions as  I  find  them,  and  for  what  they  are  worth. 


326  THE  MISSIONS.     BRANDY  QUESTION.     [1663-1701i 

Appeal  was  made  to  the  king,  who,  with  his 
Jesuit  confessor,  guardian  of  his  conscience  on  one 
side,  and  Colbert,  guardian  of  his  worldly  interests 
on  the  other,  stood  in  some  perplexity.  The  case 
was  referred  to  the  fathers  of  the  Sorbonne,  and 
they,  after  solemn  discussion,  pronounced  the  sell- 
ing of  brandy  to  Indians  a  mortal  sin.^  It  was 
next  referred  to  an  assembly  of  the  chief  mer- 
chants and  inhabitants  of  Canada,  held  under  the 
eye  of  the  governor,  intendant,  and  council,  in  the 
Chateau  St.  Louis.  Each  was  directed  to  state  his 
views  in  writing.  The  great  majority  were  for 
unrestricted  trade  in  brandy ;  a  few  were  for  a 
limited  and  guarded  trade;  and  two  or  three  de 
clared  for  prohibition.^  Decrees  of  prohibition 
were  passed  from  time  to  time,  but  they  were  un- 
availing. They  were  revoked,  rencAved,  and  re- 
voked again.  They  were,  in  fact,  worse  than 
useless ;  for  their  chief  effect  was  to  turn  traders 
and  coureiirs  de  hois  into  troops  of  audacious  con- 
trabandists. Attempts  were  made  to  limit  the 
brandy  trade  to  the  settlements,  and  exclude  it 
from  the  forest  country,  where  its  regulation  was 
impossible ;  but  these  attempts,  like  the  others, 
were  of  little  avail.  It  is  worthy  of  notice  that, 
when  brandy  was  forbidden  everywhere  else,  it 
was  permitted  in  the  trade  of  Tadoussac,  carried 
on  for  the  profit  of  government.^ 

1  D^ihirniion  de  la  Sorbonne  sitr  la  Traite  deis  Boisso7}s,  8  Mars,  1675. 

■•^  Proces-verbal  de  V Assemblee  tenue  au  Chateau  de  St.  Louis  de  Quebec,  Ce 
26  Oct.,  1676,  et  jours  siuvaiits. 

3  TMtre  de  Charles  Aiibert  de  la  Chesnat/e,  24  Oct.,  1693.  In  the  course 
of  the  quarrel  a  severe  law  passed  by  the  General  Court  of  Massacliu- 


1663-1702.]  VIEWS   OF   THE   KING.  327 

In  s])ite  of  the  Sorbonne,  in  spite  of  Pere  La 
Chaise;  and  of  the  Archbishop  of  Paris,  whom  he 
also  consulted,  the  king  was  never  at  heart  a  pro- 
liibitionist.^  His  Canadian  revenue  was  drawn 
from  the  fur  trade ;  and  the  singular  argument  of 
the  partisans  of  brandy,  that  its  attractions  were 
needed  to  keep  the  Indians  from  contact  with 
heresy,  served  admirably  to  salve  his  conscience. 
Bigot  as  he  was,  he  distrusted  the  Bishop  of 
Quebec,  the  great  champion  of  the  anti-liquor 
movement.  His  own  letters,  as  well  as  those  of 
his  minister,  prove  that  he  saw  or  thought  that  he 
saw  motives  for  the  crusade  very  different  from 
those  inscribed  on  its  banners.  He  wrote  to  Saint- 
VaUier,  Laval's  successor  in  the  bishopric,  that  the 
brandy  trade  was  very  useful  to  the  kingdom  of 
France ;  that  it  should  be  regulated,  but  not  pre- 
vented ;  that  the  consciences  of  his  subjects  must 
not  be  disturbed  by  denunciations  of  it  as  a  sin ; 
and  that  "it  is  well  that  you  {the  hishoj))  should 
take  care  that  the  zeal  of  the  ecclesiastics  is  not 
excited  by  personal  interests  and  passions."^  Per- 
haps he  alludes  to  the  spirit  of  encroachment  and 
domination  which  he  and  his  minister  in  secret 
instructions  to  their  officers  often  impute  to  the 
bishop  and  the  clerg}^,  or  perhaps  he  may  have  in 
mind  other  accusations   which  had    reached  him 


sel^s  against  tlie  sale  of  liquors  to  Imlians  was  several  times  urjied  as  an 
example  to  be  imitated.  A  copy  of  it  was  sent  to  the  minister,  and  is 
still  preserved  in  the  Archives  of  the  Marine  and  Colonies. 

'  See,  among  other  evidence,  M^moire  sur  la  Traite  des  Boisaona, 
IG78. 

■■2  Le  Rojj  a  Saint-Vallier,  7  Avril,  1691 


328  THE  MISSIONS.    BRANDY  QUESTION.    11663-1702 

from  time  to  time  during  many  years,  and  of  which 
the  following  from  the  pen  of  the  most  noted  of 
Canadian  governors  will  serve  as  an  example. 
Count  Frontenac  declares  that  the  Jesuits  greatly 
exaggerate  the  disorders  caused  by  brandy,  and 
that  they  easily  convince  persons  "who  do  not 
know  the  interested  motives  which  have  led  them 
to  harp  continually  on  this  string  for  more  than 
forty  years.  .  .  .  They  have  long  wished  to  have 
the  fur  trade  entirely  to  themselves,  and  to  keep 
out  of  sight  the  trade  which  they  have  always 
carried  on  in  the  woods,  and  which  they  are  carry- 
ing on  there  now."  ^ 

Trade  of  the  Jesuits.  —  As  I  have  observed  in  a  former 
volume,  the  charge  against  the  Jesuits  of  trading  in  beaver-skins 
dates  from  the  begmning  of  the  colony.  In  the  private  journal  of 
Father  Jerome  Lalemant,  their  superior,  occurs  the  folio-wing 
curious  passage,  under  date  of  November,  1645:  '■'■  Pour  la  traite 
des  cafttors.  Le  15  de  Nov.  le  briut  estant  qu'on  s'eu  alloit  icy 
publier  la  defense  qui  auoit  este  pubhee  aux  Trois  Riuieres  que 
pas  vn  n'eut  a  traiter  auec  les  saimages,  le  P.  Vimont  demanda  a 
Mons.  des  Chastelets  commis  general  si  nous  serious  de  pire  con- 
dition soubs  eux  que  soubs  Messieurs  de  la  Compagnie.  La  con- 
clusion fut  que  nou  et  que  cela  iroit  pour  nous  a  V ordinaire,  mais  que 
nous  lejissions  douce7nent."  Journal  des  Jesuites.  Two  years  after, 
on  the  request  of  Lalemant,  the  governor  Montmagny,  and  hia 
destined  successor  Aillebout,  gave  the  Jesuits  a  ceniticate  to  the 
effect  that  "les  peres  de  la  compagnie  de  Jesus  sont  innocents  de 
la  calomnie  qui  leur  a  ete  imputee,  et  ce  qu'ils  en  ont  fait  a  ete  pour 
le  hien  de  la  com.iiunaute  et  pour  un  bon  sujet."  This  leaves  it  to  be 
inferred  that  they  actually  traded,  though  with  good  intentions. 
Tn  1664,  in  reply  to  similar  "calumnies,"  the  Jesuits  made  by 
proxy  a  declaration  before  the  council,  stating,  "que  les  dits 
Keverends  Peres  Jesuites  n'ont  fait  jamais  ancune  profession  de 
vendre  et  n'ont  jamais  rien  vendu,  mais  seulement  que  les  marchan- 
dises  quails  donnent  aux  particuUers  ne  sont  que  pour  avoir  lenrs 

1  Frontenac  au  Ministre,  29  Oct.,  1676. 


1663-1702.]  TRADE   OF   THE  JESUITS.  329 

nicessites."  This  is  an  admission  in  a  thin  disguise.  The  word 
necessites  is  of  very  elastic  interpretation.  In  a  memoir  cf  Talon, 
1667,  he  mentions,  "  la  traite  de  pelletei-ics  qu'on  assure  qu'ils  (les 
Jesuites)  font  aux  Outaouacks  et  au  Cap  de  la  Madeleine;  ce  que  je 
ne  sais  pas  de  science  certaine." 

That  which  Talon  did  not  know  with  certainty  is  made  reason- 
ably clear  for  us  by  a  line  in  the  private  journal  of  Father  Le 
Mercier,  who  writes  under  date  of  17  August,  10G5,  "  Le  Pere 
Fremin  remonte  superieur  au  Cap  de  la  Magdeleine,  ou  le  temporel 
est  en  bon  estat.  Comme  it  est  delivre  de  tout  soin  d'aucune  traite, 
11  doit  s'appliquer  a  I'instruction  tant  des  Montaguets  que  dea 
Algonquins."  Father  Charles  Albanel  was  charged,  under  Frd- 
min,  with  the  affairs  of  the  mission,  including  doubtless  the  tem- 
poral interests,  to  the  prosperity  of  which  Father  Le  Merciel 
alludes,  and  the  cares  of  trade  from  which  Father  Fremin  was 
delivered.  CaveUer  de  la  Salle  declared  in  1678,  "  Le  pere  Arba- 
nelle  (Albanel)  jesuite  a  traite  au  Cap  (de  la  Madeleine)  i^our  700 
pistoles  de  peaux  d'orignaux  et  de  castors;  iuy  mesme  me  I'a  dit 
en  1667.  11  vend  le  pain,  le  vin,  le  bled,  le  lard,  et  il  tient  maga- 
zin  au  Cap  aussi  bien  que  le  frere  Joseph  a  Quebec.  Ce  frere  gagne 
500  pour  100  sur  tons  les  peuples.  lis  (les  Jesuites)  ont  bati  leur 
college  en  partie  de  leur  traite  et  en  partie  de  I'emprunt."  La 
Salle  further  says  that  Fremin,  being  rei^orted  to  have  made 
enoi-mous  profits,  "  ce  pere  rcpondit  au  gouverneur  (qui  lui  en  avail 
fait  des  plainlis)  par  un  billet  que  Iuy  a  conserve,  que  c'estoit  uue 
calomuie  que  ce  grand  gain  pretend u;  puisque  tout  ce  qui  se  passoit 
par  ses  mains  ne  pouvoit  produire  par  an  que  quatre  mille  de  reve- 
nant  bon,  tons  frais  faits,  sans  compreudre  les  gages  des  domes- 
tiques."  La  Salle  gives  also  many  other  particulars,  especially 
relating  to  Michillimackinac,  where,  as  he  says,  the  Jesuits  had  a 
large  stock  of  beaver-skins.  According  to  Peronne  Dumesnil, 
Meinoire  de  1071,  the  Jesuits  had  at  that  time  more  than  20,000 
francs  a  year,  partly  from  trade  and  partly  from  charitable  soutii- 
butions  of  their  friends  in  France. 

The  king  repeatedly  forbade  the  Jesuits  and  other  ecclesiastics 
in  Canada  to  carry  on  trade.  On  one  occasion  he  threatened 
strong  measures  should  they  continue  to  disobey  him.  Le  Jtoi  a 
/''fontenac,  2S  Avril,  ]077.  In  the  same  year  the  minister  wrote  to 
the  intendant  Duchesneau  :  "  Vous  ne  saiu'iez  apporter  trop  de 
precautions  pour  abolir  entierement  la  coustume  que  les  Ecclcsias- 
tiques  seculiers  et  reguliers  avaient  pris  de  traitter  ou  de  faire 
traitter  leurs  valets,"  18  Acril,  1677. 

The  Jesiiit.s  entered  also  into  other  branches  of  trade  and  in* 


330  THE  MISSIONS.     BRANDY  QUESTION.     [1663-1702. 

dustry  with  a  vigor  aud  address  which  the  inhabitants  of  Canada 
might  have  emulated  with  advantage.  They  were  successful 
fishers  of  eels.  In  1646,  their  eel-pots  at  Sillery  are  said  to  have 
yielded  no  less  than  forty  thousand  eels,  some  of  which  they  sold 
at  the  modest  price  of  thirty  sous  a  hundred.  Ferland,  Notes  sur 
les  JRecjistres  cle  N.  D.  de  Quebec^  82.  The  members  of  the  order 
were  exempted  from  payment  of  duties,  and  in  1074  they  were 
specially  empowered  to  construct  mills,  including  sugar-mills,  and 
keep  slaves,  apprentices,  and  hired  servants.   Droit  Canadien,  ISO. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

1663-1763. 

PEIESTS   AND   PEOPLE. 

Church  and  State.  —  The  Bishop  and  the  Kino.  —  The  Kiito 
AND  THE  Cures.  —  The  New  Bishop.  —  The  Canadian  CuRi:. — 
Ecclesiastical  Rule.  —  Saint- Vallier  and  Denonville.  — 
Clerical  Rigor.  —  Jesuit  and  Sulpitian.  —  Courcelle  and 
Chatelain.  —  The  Recollets.  —  Heresy  and  Witchcraft.  — 
Canadian  Nuns.  —  Jeanne  Le  Ber.  —  Education.  —  The  Sem- 
inary.—  Saint  Joachim.  —  Miracles  of  Saint  Anne. —  Cana- 
dian Schools. 

When  Laval  and  the  Jesuits  procured  the  recall 
of  Mezy,  they  achieved  a  seeming  triumph ;  yet  it 
was  but  a  defeat  in  disguise.  While  ordering  home 
the  obnoxious  governor,  the  king  and  Colbert 
made  a  practical  assertion  of  their  power  too 
strong  to  be  resisted.  A  vice-regal  officer,  a 
governor,  an  intendant,  and  a  regiment  of  soldiers, 
were  silent  but  convincing  proofs  that  the  mission 
days  of  Canada  were  over,  and  the  dream  of  a 
theocracy  dispelled  for  ever.  The  ecclesiastica 
read  the  signs  of  the  times,  and  for  a  while  seemed 
to  accept  the  situation. 

The  king  on  his  part,  in  vindicating  the  civil 
power,  had  shown  a  studious  regard  to  the  sensi- 
bilities  of   the   bishop  and   his  allies.     The  lieu- 


332  PRIESTS   AND   PEOPLE.  [1665-70. 

tenant-general  Tracy,  a  zealous  devotee,  and  the 
intendant  Talon,  who  at  least  professed  to  be  one, 
were  not  men  to  offend  the  clerical  party  need- 
lessly. In  the  choice  of  Courcelle,  the  governor, 
a  little  less  caution  had  been  shown.  His  chief 
business  was  to  fight  the  Iroquois,  for  which  he 
was  well  fitted,  but  he  presently  showed  signs  of  a 
willino-ness  to  fio-ht  the  Jesuits  also.  The  colonists 
liked  him  for  his  Uvely  and  impulsive  speech  ;  but 
the  priests  were  of  a  different  mind,  and  so,  too, 
was  his  colleague  Talon,  a  prudent  person  who 
studied  the  amenities  of  Iffe  and  knew  how  to 
pursue  his  ends  with  temper  and  moderation.  On 
the  subject  of  the  clergy  he  and  the  governor 
substantially  agreed,  but  the  ebullitions  of  the  one 
and  the  smooth  discretion  of  the  other  were  mut- 
ually repugnant  to  both.  Talon  comjDlained  of 
Ms  colleague's  impetuosity ;  and  Colbert  directed 
him  to  use  his  best  efforts  to  keep  Courcelle  within 
bounds  and  prevent  him  from  pubhcly  finding 
fault  with  the  bishop  and  the  Jesuits.-^  Next  we 
find  the  minister  writing;  to  Courcelle  himself  to 
soothe  his  ruffled  temper,  and  enjoining  him  to  act 
discreetly,  "  because,"  said  Colbert,  "  as  the  colony 
grows  the  king's  authority  will  grow  wdth  it,  and 
the  authority  of  the  priests  will  be  brought  back 
in  time  within  lawful  bounds."  '^ 

Meanwhile,  Talon  had  been  ordered  to  observe 
carefully  the  conduct  of  the  bishop  and  the  Jesuits, 
"  who,"  says  the  minister,  "  have  hitherto  nomi- 
nated governors  for   the   king,   and   used  every 

1  Colbert  a  Talon,  20  Fee,  1668.  2  Colbert  a  Courcelle,  19  Mai,  1669 


1605-70.1  COURCELLE   AND   THE  JESUITS.  333 

means  to  procure  the  recall  of  tliose  chosen  with- 
out their  participation;^  filled  offices  with  their 
adherents,  and  tolerated  no  secular  priests  except 
those  of  one  mind  with  them."  ^  Talon,  therefore, 
under  the  veil  of  a  reverent  courtesy,  sharply 
watched  them.  They  paid  courtesy  with  courtesy, 
and  the  intendant  wrote  home  to  his  master  that 
he  saw  nothing  amiss  in  them.  He  quickly  changed 
his  mind.  "  I  should  have  had  less  trouble  and 
more  praise,"  he  writes  in  the  next  year,  "  if  I 
had  been  willing  to  leave  the  power  of  the  church 
where  I  found  it."  ^  "  It  is  easy,"  he  says  again, 
"  to  incur  the  ill-will  of  the  Jesuits  if  one  does  not 
accept  all  their  opinions  and  abandon  one's  self  to 
their  direction  even  in  temporal  matters ;  for  their 
encroachments  extend  to  affairs  of  police,  which 
concern  only  the  civil  magistrate ;  "  and  he  rec- 
ommends that  one  or  two  of  them  be  sent  home 
as  disturbers  of  the  peace.^  The}^,  on  their  part, 
changed  attitude  towards  both  him  and  the  gov- 
ernor. One  of  them.  Father  Bardy,  less  discreet 
than  the  rest,  is  said  to  have  preached  a  sermon 
against  them  at  Quebec,  in  which  he  likened  them 
to  a  pair  of  toadstools  springing  up  in  a  night, 
adding  that  a  good  remedy  would  soon  be  found, 
and  that  Courcelle  would  have  to  run  home  like 
other  governors  before  him.^ 

Tracy   escaped  clerical   attacks.      He   was   ex- 

'  Instruction  (lu  Sieur  Talon. 

2  Mtfmoire  pour  ]\f.  de  Tracy. 

3  Talon  au  Ministre,  13  Noo.,  1666. 
*  Talon,  M(finoin'.  de  16G7. 

5  La  Salle,  M€moire  de  1678      This  sermon  was  preached  OD  the  12tb 
of  March.  1667. 


334  PRIESTS  AND   PEOPLE,  [1G65-1700 

tremely  careful  not  to  provoke  them ;  and  one  ol 
his  first  acts  was  to  restore  to  the  council  the 
bishop's  adherents,  whom  Mezy  had  expelled.' 
And  if,  on  the  one  hand,  he  was  too  pious  to 
quarrel  with  the  bishop,  so,  on  the  other,  the 
bishop  was  too  prudent  to  invite  collision  with  a 
man  of  his  rank  and  influence. 

After  all,  the  dispute  between  the  civil  and 
ecclesiastical  powers  was  not  fundamental.  Each 
had  need  of  the  other.  Both  rested  on  authority, 
and  they  differed  only  as  to  the  boundary  lines  of 
their  respective  shares  in  it.  Yet  the  dispute  of 
boundaries  was  a  serious  one,  and  it  remained  a 
source  of  bitterness  for  many  years.  The  Idng, 
though  rigidly  Catholic,  was  not  yet  sunk  in  the 
slough  of  bigotry  into  which  Maintenon  and  the 
Jesuits  succeeded  at  last  in  plunging  him.  He  had 
conceived  a  distrust  of  Laval,  and  his  jealousy  of 
liis  royal  authority  disposed  him  to  listen  to  the 
anti-clerical  counsels  of  his  minister.  How  need- 
ful they  both  thought  it  to  prune  the  exuberant 
growth  of  clerical  power,  and  how  cautiously  they 
set  themselves  to  do  so,  their  letters  attest  again 
and  again.  ''  The  bishop,"  writes  Colbert,  "  as- 
sumes a  domination  far  beyond  that  of  other 
bishops  throughout  the  Christian  world,  and  par- 
ticularly in  the  kingdom  of  France."^  "It  is  the 
will  of  his  Majesty  that  you  confine  him  and  the 
Jesuits  within  just  bounds,  and  let  none  of  them 

1  A  curious  account  of  his  relations  with  Laval  is  given  in  a  letter  of 

La  Motte-Cadillac,  28  September,  1694. 

2  Colbert  a  Duchesneau,  1  Mai,  1677. 


1665-1700.1  THE   RECOLLETS.  335 

overstep  these  bounds  in  any  manner  whatsoever. 
Consider  this  as  a  matter  of  the  greatest  import- 
ance, and  one  to  which  you  cannot  give  too  much 
attention."^  "But,"  the  prudent  minister  else- 
w^here  writes,  "  it  is  of  the  greatest  consequence 
that  the  bishop  and  the  Jesuits  do  not  perceive 
that  the  intendant  blames  their  conduct."^ 

It  was  to  the  same  intendant  that  Colbert  wrote, 
"  it  is  necessary  to  diminish  as  much  as  possible 
the  excessive  number  of  priests,  monks,  and  nuns, 
in  Canada."  Yet  in  the  very  next  year,  and  on 
the  advice  of  Talon,  he  himself  sent  four  more 
to  the  colony.  His  motive  was  plain.  He  meant 
that  they  should  serve  as  a  counterpoise  to  the 
Jesuits.^  They  were  mendicant  friars,  belonging 
to  the  branch  of  the  Franciscans  known  as  the 
Recollets ;  and  they  were  supposed  to  be  free  from 
the  ambition  for  the  aggrandizement  of  their  order 
which  was  imputed,  and  with  reason,  to  the  Jesuits. 
Whether  the  Recollets  were  free  from  it  or  not,  no 
danger  was  to  be  feared  from  them ;  for  Laval  and 
the  Jesuits  were  sure  to  oppose  them,  and  they 
would  need  the  support  of  the  government  too 
much  to  set  themselves  in  opposition  to  it.  "  The 
more  Recollets  we  have,"  says  Talon,  *•  the  better 
will  the  too  firmly  rooted  authority  of  the  others 
be  balanced."* 

AVhile  Louis  XIV.  tried  to  confine  the  priests  to 

1  Colbert  a  Duchesneau,  28  Avril,  1677. 

2  Instruction  pour  M.  Douteroue,  1668. 

'  M€moire  succinct  des  principaux  points  des  intentions  du  Roy  sur  le  patft 
de  Canada,  18  Mai,  1669. 

*  Talon  au  Miuistre,  10  Oct.,  1670. 


336.  PEIESTS   AND   PEOPLE.  [1GG5-I70a 

tlieir  ecclesiastical  functions,  he  was  at  the  same 
time,  whether  from  religion,  policy,  or  hoth  com- 
bined, very  liberal  to  the  Canadian  church,  of 
which,  indeed,  he  was  the  main-stay.  In  the 
yearly  estimate  of  "  ordinary  charges "  of  the 
colony,  the  church  holds  the  most  prominent  place ; 
and  the  appropriations  for  rehgious  purposes  often 
exceed  all  the  rest  together.  Thus,  in  1667,  out 
of  a  total  of  36,360  francs,  28,000  are  assigned  to 
church  uses.^  The  amount  fluctuated,  but  was 
always  relatively  large.  The  Canadian  cures  were 
paid  in  great  part  by  the  king,  who  for  many 
years  gave  eight  thousand  francs  annually  towards 
their  support.  Such  was  the  poverty  of  the 
country  that,  though  in  1685  there  were  only 
twenty-five  cures,^  each  costing  about  five  hundred 
francs  a  year,  the  tithes  utterly  failed  to  meet  the 
expense.  As  late  as  1700,  the  intendant  declared 
that  Canada  without  the  king's  help  could  not 
maintain  more  than  eight  or  nine  cures.  Louis 
XIV.  winced  under  these  steady  demands,  and 
reminded  the  bishop  that  more  than  four  thousand 
cures  in  France  lived  on  less  than  two  hundred 
francs  a  year.^  "  You  say,"  he  wrote  to  the  in- 
tendant, "  that  it  is  impossible  for  a  Canadian 
cure  to  live  on  five  hundred  francs.     Then   you 

1  Of  this,  6,000  francs  were  given  to  the  Jesuits,  6,000  to  the  Ursulines, 
9,000  to  the  cathedral,  4,000  to  the  seminary,  and  3,000  to  the  Hotel-Dieu. 
Etat  de  d^pense,  etc.,  1677.  The  rest  went  to  pay  civil  officers  and  garri- 
sons. In  1G82,  the  amount  for  clmrch  uses  was  only  12,000  francs.  In 
1687  it  was  13,500.  In  1689,  it  rose  to  34,000,  including  Acadia. 
^^2  Increased  soon  after  to  thirt3'^-six  by  Saint- Vallier,  Laval's  successor, 

'  Memoire  a  Duchesnemi,  15  Mai,  1678 ;  Le  Roy  a  Duchesneau,  11  Juirif 
1680. 


1665-1700.]  THE  KING  AND  THE   CHURCH.  337 

must  do  the  impossible  to  accomplish  my  intentions, 
which  are  always  that  the  cures  should  live  on  the 
tithes  alone."  ^  Yet  the  head  of  the  church  still 
begged  for  money,  and  the  king  still  paid  it.  "  We 
are  in  the  midst  of  a  costly  war,"  wrote  the  minis- 
ter to  the  bishop,  "  yet  in  consequence  of  your 
urgency  the  gifts  to  ecclesiastics  will  be  continued 
asbeforr."^  And  they  did  continue.  More  than 
half  a  century  later,  the  king  was  still  making 
them,  r  ad  during  the  last  years  of  the  colony  he 
gave  twenty  thousand  francs  annually  to  support 
Canadian  cures. ^ 

The  maintenance  of  cures  was  but  a  part  of 
his  bounty.  He  endowed  the  bishopric  with  the 
revenues  of  two  French  abbeys,  to  which  he  after- 
wards added  a  third.  The  vast  tracts  of  land 
which  Laval  had  acquired  were  freed  from  feudal 
burdens,  and  emigrants  were  sent  to  them  by  the 
government  in  such  numbers  that,  in  1667,  the 
bishop's  seigniory  of  Beaupre  and  Orleans  con- 
tained more  than  a  fourth  of  the  entire  population 
of  Canada.*  He  had  emerged  from  his  condition 
of  apostolic  poverty  to  find  himself  the  richest 
land-owner  in  the  colony. 

If  by  favors  like  these  the  king  expected  to 
lead    the    ecclesiastics    into   compliance   with    his 

1  Le  Roy  a  Duchesneau,  30  Avril,  1681. 

'■*  Le  Ministre  a  I'Eveque,  8  Mai,  1694. 

3  Bougainville,  Md'moire,  1757. 

*  Entire  popvilation,  4,312;  Beaupre  and  Orleans,  1,185.  Recenscment 
de  1667.  Laval,  it  will  be  remembered,  afterwards  gave  his  lands  to  tlie 
seminary  of  Quebec.  He  previously  exciianged  tlie  island  of  Orleans 
witli  the  Sieur  Berthelot  for  the  island  of  Jesus.  Berthelot  gave  him  a 
large  sum  of  money  in  addition. 

22 


3o8  PRIESTS   AND   PEOPLE.  [1GG5-1700. 

wishes,  he  was  doomed  to  disappointment.  The 
system  of  movable  cures,  by  which  the  bishop 
hke  a  mihtary  chief  could  compel  each  member  of 
his  clerical  army  to  come  and  go  at  his  bidding, 
was  from  the  first  repugnant  to  Louis  XIV.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  bishop  clung  to  it  with  his 
usual  tenacity.  Colbert  denounced  it  as  contrary 
to  the  laws  of  the  kingdom.^  "  His  Majesty  has 
reason  to  believe,"  he  writes,  "  that  the  chief 
source  of  the  difficulty  which  the  bishop  makes  on 
this  point  is  his  wish  to  preserve  a  greater  author- 
ity over  the  cures."  ^  The  inflexible  prelate,  whose 
heart  was  bound  up  in  the  system  he  had  estab- 
lished, opposed  evasion  and  delay  to  each  ex- 
pression of  the  royal  will ;  and  even  a  royal  edict 
failed  to  produce  the  desired  effect.  In  the  height 
of  the  dispute,  Laval  went  to  court,  and,  on  the 
ground  of  failing  health,  asked  for  a  successor  in 
the  bishopric.  The  king  readily  granted  his  prayer. 
The  successor  was  appointed  ;  but  when  Laval  pre- 
pared to  embark  again  for  Canada,  he  was  given  to 
understand  that  he  was  to  remain  in  France.  In 
vain  he  promised  to  make  no  trouble ;  ^  and  it  was 
not  till  after  an  absence  of  four  years  that  he  was 
permitted  to  return,  no  longer  as  its  chief,  to  his 
beloved  Canadian  church.* 

1  Le  Ministre  a  Duchesneau,  15  Mai,  1678. 

2  Instruction  a  M.  de  Meiiles,  1682. 

3  Laval  au  Pere  la  Chaise,  1687.  This  forms  part  of  a  curious  corre- 
spondence printed  in  the  Foyer  Canadien  for  1866,  from  originals  in  the 
Archeveche'  of  Quebec. 

*  from  a  m^moire  of  18  Feb.,  1685  {Archives  de  Versailles)  it  is  plain 
that  the  court,  in  giving  a  successor  to  Laval,  thought  that  it  had  eoded 
the  vexed  <j^uestion  of  movable  cures. 


1665-1700.1  THE  NEW  BISHOP.  339 

Meanwhile  Saint- Vallier,  the  new  bishop,  had 
raised  a  new  tempest.  He  attacked  that  organiza- 
tion of  the  seminary  of  Quebec  by  which  Laval 
had  endeavored  to  unite  the  secular  priests  of 
Canada  into  an  attached  and  obedient  family,  with 
the  bishop  as  its  head  and  the  seminary  as  its 
home,  a  plan  of  which  the  system  of  movable 
cures  was  an  essential  part.  The  Canadian  priests, 
devoted  to  Laval,  met  the  innovations  of  Saint- 
Vallier  with  an  opposition  which  seemed  only  to 
confirm  his  purpose.  Laval,  old  and  worn  with 
toil  and  asceticism,  was  driven  almost  to  despair. 
The  seminary  of  Quebec  was  the  cherished  work 
of  his  life,  and,  to  his  thinking,  the  citadel  of  the 
Canadian  church ;  and  now  he  beheld  it  battered 
and  breached  before  his  eyes.  His  successor,  in 
fact,  was  trying  to  place  the  church  of  Canada  on 
the  footing  of  the  church  of  France.  The  conflict 
lasted  for  years,  mth  the  rancor  that  marks  the 
quarrels  of  non-combatants  of  both  sexes.  "  He  " 
{Sai7it-VaUier),  siiys  one  of  his  opponents,  "has 
made  himself  contemptible  to  almost  everybody, 
and  particularly  odious  to  the  priests  born  in 
Canada;  for  there  is  between  them  and  him  a 
mutual  antipathy  difficult  to  overcome."  ^  He  is 
described  by  the  same  writer  as  a  person  "  without 
reflection  and  judgment,  extreme  in  all  things, 
secret  and  artful,  passionate  when  opposed,  and  a 
flatterer  when  he  wishes  to  gain  his  point."  This 
amiable  critic  adds  that  Saint- Vallier  believes   a 

1  The  above  is  from  an  anonymous  paper,  written  apparently  in  1695i 
and  entitled  M^moire  pour  le  Canada. 


840  PRIESTS  AND  PEOPLE.  [168a 

bishop  to  be  inspired,  in  virtue  of  his  office,  with 
a  wisdom  that  needs  no  human  aid,  and  tliat  what- 
ever thought  comes  to  him  in  prayer  is  a  divine 
inspiration  to  be  carried  into  effect  at  all  costs  and 
in  spite  of  all  opposition. 

The  new  bishop,  notwithstanding  the  tempest 
he  had  raised,  did  not  fully  accomplish  that  estab- 
lishment of  the  cures  in  their  respective  par- 
ishes which  the  king  and  the  minister  so  much 
.desired.  The  Canadian  cur6  was  more  a  missionary 
than  a  parish  priest ;  and  nature  as  well  as  Bishop 
Laval  threw  difficulties  in  the  way  of  settHng  him 
quietly  over  his  charge. 

On  the  Lower  St.  Lawrence,  where  it  widens  to 
an  estuary,  six  leagues  across,  a  ship  from  France, 
the  last  of  the  season,  holds  her  way  for  Quebec, 
laden  with  stores  and  clothing,  household  utensils, 
goods  for  Indian  trade,  the  newest  court  fashions, 
wine,  brandy,  tobacco,  and  the  king's  orders  from 
Versailles.  Swelling  her  patched  and  dingy  sails, 
she  ghdes  through  the  wildness  and  the  soUtude 
where  there  is  nothing  but  her  to  remind  you  of 
the  great  troubled  world  behind  and  the  little 
troubled  world  before.  On  the  far  verge  of  the 
ocean-Hke  river,  clouds  and  mountains  mingle  in 
dim  confusion;  fresh  gusts  from  the  north  dash 
waves  against  the  ledges,  sweep  through  the  quiv- 
ering spires  of  stiff  and  stunted  fir-trees,  and  ruffle 
the  feathers  of  the  crow,  perched  on  the  dead 
bough  after  his  feast  of  mussels  among  the  sea-weed. 
You  are  not  so  solitary  as  you  think.  A  small 
birch  canoe  rounds  the  point  of  rocks,  and  it  bears 


1683,1  THE    CANADIAN   CURfi.  341 

two  men ;  one  in  an  old  black  cassock,  and  the 
other  in  a  buckskin  coat ;  both  worldng  hard  at 
the  paddle  to  keep  their  slender  craft  off  the 
shingle  and  the  breakers.  The  man  in  the  cassock 
is  Father  Morel,  aged  forty-eight,  the  oldest  coim- 
try  cure  in  Canada,  most  of  his  brethren  being  in 
the  vigor  of  youth  as  they  had  need  to  be.  His 
parochial  charge  embraces  a  string  of  incipient 
parishes  extending  along  the  south  shore  from 
Riviere  du  Loup  to  Riviere  du  Sud,  a  distance 
reckoned  at  twenty-seven  leagues,  and  his  parish- 
ioners number  in  all  three  hundred  and  twenty- 
eight  souls.  He  has  administered  spiritual  conso- 
lation to  the  one  inhabitant  of  Kamouraska ;  visited 
the  eight  families  of  La  Bouteillerie  and  the  five 
families  of  La  Combe ;  and  now  he  is  on  his  way 
to  the  seigniory  of  St.  Denis  with  its  two  houses 
and  eleven  souls.-' 

The  father  lands  where  a  shattered  eel-pot  high 
and  dry  on  the  pebbles  betrays  the  neighborhood 
of  man.  His  servant  shoulders  his  portable  chapel, 
and  follows  him  through  the  belt  of  firs,  and  the 
taller  woods  beyond,  till  the  sunlight  of  a  desolate 
clearing  shines  upon  them.  Charred  trunks  and 
limbs  encumber  the  ground ;  dead  trees,  branch- 
less, barkless,  pierced  by  the  woodpeckers,  in  part 
black  with  fire,  in  part  bleached  by  sun  and  frost, 
tower  ghastly  and  wierd  above  the  labyrinth  of 
forest   ruins,   through  which   the    priest   and    his 

1  These  particulars  are  from  the  Plan  g€n&al  de  I'estat  present  dcs  mis 
nons  du  Canada,  fait  en  l'ann€e,  1683.  It  is  a  list  and  description  of  the 
parishes  with  the  names  and  ages  of  tlie  cure's,  and  otlier  details.  See 
Abeille,  I.     This  paper  was  drawn  up  by  order  of  Laval. 


342  PRIESTS  AND  PEOPLE.  [1665-170Q 

follower  wind  their  way,  the  cat-bird  mewing,  and 
the  blue-jay  screaming  as  they  pass.  Now  the 
golden-rod  and  the  aster,  harbingers  of  autumn, 
fringe  with  purple  and  yellow  the  edge  of  the  older 
clearing,  where  wheat  and  maize,  the  settler's 
meagre  harvest,  are  growmg  among  the  stumps. 

Wild-looldng  women,  with  sunburnt  faces  and 
neglected  hair,  run  from  their  work  to  meet  the 
cure  ;  a  man  or  two  follow  with  soberer  steps  and 
less  exuberant  zeal ;  while  half -savage  children,  the 
courew^s  de  hois  of  the  future,  bareheaded,  bare- 
footed, and  half-clad,  come  to  wonder  and  stare. 
To  set  up  his  altar  in  a  room  of  the  rugged  log 
cabin,  say  mass,  hear  confessions,  impose  penance, 
grant  absolution,  repeat  the  office  of  the  dead  over 
a  grave  made  weeks  before,  baptize,  perhaps,  the 
last  infant;  marry,  possibly,  some  pair  who  may 
or  may  not  have  waited  for  his  coming ;  catechize 
as  well  as  time  and  circumstance  would  allow  the 
shy  but  turbulent  brood  of  some  former  wedlock : 
such  was  the  work  of  the  parish  priest  in  the 
remoter  districts.  It  was  seldom  that  his  charge 
was  quite  so  scattered,  and  so  far  extended  as  that 
of  Father  Morel ;  but  there  were  fifteen  or  twenty 
others  whose  labors  were  lil^e  in  Idnd,  and  in  some 
cases  no  less  arduous.  All  summer  they  paddled  their 
canoes  from  settlement  to  settlement ;  and  in  winter 
they  toiled  on  snow-shoes  over  the  drifts ;  while  the 
servant  carried  the  portable  chapel  on  his  back,  or 
dragged  it  on  a  sledge.  Once,  at  least,  in  the  year, 
the  cure  paid  his  visit  to  Quebec,  where,  under  the 
maternal  roof  of  the  seminary,  he  made  his  retreat 


1666-1700.J  THE   CANADIAN  CURfi.  343 

of  meditation  and  prayer,  and  then  returned  to  his 
work.  He  rarely  had  a  house  of  liis  own,  but 
boarded  in  that  of  the  seignior  or  one  of  the  habi- 
tants. Many  parishes  or  aggregations  of  parishes 
had  no  other  church  than  a  room  fitted  up  for  the 
purpose  in  the  house  of  some  pious  settler.  In 
the  larger  settlements,  there  were  churches  and 
chapels  of  wood,  thatched  with  straw,  often  ruin- 
ous, poor  to  the  last  degree,  without  ornaments, 
and  sometimes  without  the  sacred  vessels  necessary 
for  the  service.^  In  1683,  there  Avere  but  seven 
stone  churches  in  all  the  colony.  The  population 
was  so  thin  and  scattered  that  many  of  the  settlers 
heard  mass  only  three  or  four  times  a  year,  and 
some  of  them  not  so  often.  The  sick  frequently 
died  without  absolution,  and  infants  without  bap- 
tism. 

The  splendid  self-devotion  of  the  early  Jesuit 
missions  has  its  record ;  so,  too,  have  the  unseemly 
bickerings  of  bishops  and  governors :  but  the 
patient  toils  of  the  missionary  cure  rest  in  the 
obscurity  where  the  best  of  human  virtues  are 
buried  from  ao;e  to  afj;e.  What  we  find  set  down 
concerning  him  is,  that  Louis  XIV.  was  unable  to 
see  why  he  should  not  live  on  two  hundred  francs 
a  year  as  well  as  a  village  cure  by  the  banks  of 
the  Garonne.  The  king  did  not  know  that  his 
cassock  and  all  his  clothing  cost  him  twice  as  much 
and  lasted  half  as  long ;  that  he  must  have  a  canoe 
and  a  man  to  paddle  it;  and  that  when  on  his 

1  Saint- Vallier,  Estal  present  de  I'EijUse  et  de  la  Colonie  Fran^aise^ 
22  (cd.  1866). 


344  PRIESTS  AND  PEOPLE.  [1685 

annual  visit  the  seminary  paid  him  five  or  six 
hundred  francs,  partly  in  clothes,  partly  in  stores, 
and  partly  in  money,  the  end  of  the  year  found 
him  as  poor  as  before  except  only  in  liis  con- 
science. 

The  Canadian  priests  held  the  manners  of  the 
colony  under  a  rule  as  rigid  as  that  of  the  Puritan 
churches  of  New  England,  but  with  the  difference 
that  in  Canada  a  large  part  of  the  popidation  was 
restive  under  their  control,  while  some  of  the  civil 
authorities,  often  with  the  governor  at  their  head, 
supported  the  opposition.  This  was  due,  partly  to 
an  excess  of  clerical  severity,  and  partly  to  the 
continued  friction  between  the  secular  and  eccle- 
siastical powers.  It  sometimes  happened,  however, 
that  a  new  governor  arrived,  so  pious  that  the 
clerical  party  felt  that  they  could  rely  on  him. 
Of  these  rare  instances  the  principal  is  that  of 
Denonville,  who,  with  a  wife  as  pious  as  himself, 
and  a  young  daughter,  landed  at  Quebec,  in  1685. 
On  tliis.  Bishop  Saint-Vallier,  anxious  to  turn  his 
good  dispositions  to  the  best  account,  addressed  to 
him  a  series  of  suggestions  or  rather  directions  foi 
the  guidance  of  his  conduct,  with  a  view  to  the 
spmtual  profit  of  those  over  whom  he  was  appointed 
to  rule.  The  document  was  put  on  file,  and  the 
following  are  some  of  the  points  in  it.  It  is  di- 
vided into  five  different  heads:  " Touching  feasts," 
"  touching  balls  and  dances,"  "  touching  comedies 
and  other  declamations,"  "  touching  dress,"  "  touch- 
ing irreverence  in  church."  The  governor  and 
madame  his  wife  are  desired  to  accejDt  no  invita- 


1685.]  SAINT- VALUER  AND   DENONVILLE.  345 

tions  to  suppers,  that  is  to  say  late  dinners,  as 
tending  to  nocturnal  hours  and  dangerous  pastimes ; 
and  they  are  further  enjoined  to  express  dissatisfac- 
tion, and  refuse  to  come  again,  should  any  entertain- 
ment offered  them  be  too  sumptuous.  "  Although," 
continues  the  bishop  under  the  second  head  of  his 
address,  "  balls  and  dances  are  not  sinful  in  their 
nature,  nevertheless  they  are  so  dangerous  by 
reason  of  the  circumstances  that  attend  them,  and 
the  evil  results  that  almost  inevitably  follow,  that, 
in  the  opinion  of  Saint  Francis  of  Sales,  it  should 
be  said  of  them  as  physicians  say  of  mushrooms, 
that  at  best  they  are  good  for  nothing ;  "  and,  after 
enlarging  on  their  perils,  he  declares  it  to  be  of 
great  importance  to  the  glory  of  God  and  the 
sanctification  of  the  colony,  that  the  governor  and 
his  wife  neither  give  such  entertainments  nor 
countenance  them  by  their  presence.  "  Neverthe- 
less," adds  the  mentor,  "  since  the  youth  and 
vivacity  of  mademoiselle  their  daughter  requires 
some  diversion,  it  is  permitted  to  relent  somewhat, 
and  indulge  her  in  a  little  moderate  and  proper 
dancing,  provided  that  it  be  solely  with  persons  of 
her  own  sex,  and  in  the  presence  of  madame  her 
mother ;  but  by  no  means  in  the  presence  of  men 
or  youths,  since  it  is  this  mingling  of  sexes  wliich 
causes  the  disorders  that  spring  from  balls  and 
dances."  Private  theatricals  in  any  form  are  next 
interdicted  to  the  young  lady.  The  bishop  then 
passes  to  the  subject  of  her  dress,  and  exposes  the 
abuses  against  which  she  is  to  be  guarded.  "  The 
luxury  of  dress,"  he  says,  "  appears  in  the  rich  and 


346  PRIESTS   AND   TEOPLE.  (1685 

dazzling  fabrics  wherein  the  women  and  girls  of 
Canada  attire  themselves,  and  which  are  far.  beyond 
their  condition  and  their  means ;  in  the  excess  of 
ornaments  which  they  put  on ;  in  the  extraordinary 
head-dresses  which  they  affect,  their  heads  being 
uncovered  and  fnll  of  strange  trinkets ;  and  in  the 
immodest  cm-ls  so  expressly  forbidden  in  the  epis- 
tles of  Saint  Peter  and  Saint  Paul,  as  well  as  by  all 
the  fathers  and  doctors  of  the  church,  and  which 
God  has  often  severely  punished,  as  may  be  seen 
by  the  example  of  the  unhappy  Pretextata,  a  lady 
of  high  quality,  who,  as  we  learn  from  Saint 
Jerome,  who  knew  her,  had  her  hands  withered, 
and  died  suddenly  five  months  after,  and  was  pre- 
cipitated into  hell,  as  God  had  threatened  her  by 
an  angel ;  because,  by  order  of  her  husband,  she 
had  curled  the  hair  of  her  niece,  and  attired  her 
after  a  worldly  fashion."  ^ 

Whether  the  Marquis  and  Marcliioness  Denon- 
ville  profited  by  so  apt  and  terrible  a  warning,  or 
whether  their  patience  and  good-nature  survived 
the  episcopal  onslaught,  does  not  appear  on  record. 
The  subject  of  feminine  apparel  received  great 
attention,  both  from  Saint-Valher  and  his  prede- 

1  "  Temoin  entr'autres  I'exemple  de  la  malheureuse  Pretextate,  dame 
de  grande  condition,  laquelle  au  rapport  de  S.  Jerome,  dont  elle  etoit 
connue,  eut  les  mains  desse'chees  et  cinq  mois  apres  mourut  subitement  et 
fut  precipitee  en  enfer,  ainsi  que  Dieu  Ten  avoit  menace'e  par  un  Ange 
pour  avoir  par  le  commandement  de  son  marl  frise  et  habiile  mondaine- 
ment  sa  ni^ce."  Divers  points  a  repr^senter  a  Mr.  le  Gouverneur  et  a 
Madame  la  Gouvernante,sign€  Jean,  €vesque  de  Qu€bec.  (Registre  de  I'Evechi 
de  Quebec.)  The  bishop  on  another  occasion  holds  up  the  sad  fate  of  Pre- 
textata as  a  warning  to  Canadian  mothers ;  but  in  the  present  case  he 
slightly  changes  the  incidents  to  make  the  story  more  applicable  to  the 
governor  and  his  wife. 


1663-1700.]  CLEEICAL   SEVERITY.  347 

cesser,  each  of  whom  issued  a  number  of  pastoral 
mandates  concerning  it.  Their  severest  denuncia- 
tions were  aimed  at  low-necked  dresses,  which  they 
regarded  as  favorite  devices  of  the  enemy  for  the 
snaring  of  souls ;  and  they  also  used  strong  lan- 
guage against  certain  knots  of  ribbons  called  fon- 
tanges,  with  which  the  belles  of  Quebec  adorned 
their  heads.  Laval  launches  strenuous  invectives 
against  "  the  luxury  and  vanity  of  women  and 
girls,  who,  forgetting  the  promises  of  then'  bap- 
tism, decorate  themselves  with  the  pomp  of  Satan, 
whom  they  have  so  solemnly  renounced ;  and,  in 
their  wish  to  please  the  eyes  of  men,  make  them- 
selves the  instruments  and  the  captives  of  the 
fiend."  ^ 

In  the  journal  of  the  superior  of  the  Jesuits  we 
find,  under  date  of  February  4,  1667,  a  record 
of  the  first  ball  in  Canada,  along  with  the  pious 
wish,  "  God  grant  that  nothing  further  come  of 
it."  Nevertheless  more  balls  were  not  long  in 
following;  and,  worse  yet,  sundry  comedies  were 
enacted  under  no  less  distinguished  patronage  than 
that  of  Frontenac,  the  governor.  Laval  denounced 
them  vigorously,  the  Jesuit  Dablon  attacked  them 
in  a  violent  sermon ;  and  such  excitement  followe^l 
that  the  affair  was  brought  before  the  royal  coun- 
cil, which  declined  to  interfere.^     This  flurry,  how 

1  lilandement  contre  le  luxe  et  la  vanity  des  fcmmes  et  dcs  filtcs,  1G82. 
(Begislres  de  l'Evecl>€  de  Quebec.)  A  still  more  vigorous  tlcmmciation 
is  contained  in  Ordonmince  contre  les  victs  de  luxe  et  d'impuret€,  lO'JO.  Tliia 
was  followed  in  the  next  year  by  a  stringent  list  of  rules  called  R^glement 
pour  la  conduile  des  jideles  de  ce  diocese. 

2  Arrets  da  24  et  2Sjuin  par  lesquels  cette  affaire  (des  comedies)  tst  renvoy^ 
It  Sa  Majeat€,  1G81.  (?)     (Regislre  du  Conseil  Souverain.) 


348  PRIESTS   AND   PEOPLE.  [1663-1700. 

ever,  was  nothing  to  the  storm  raised  ten  or  twelve 
years  later  by  other  dramatic  aggressions,  an  account 
of  which  mil  appear  in  the  sequel  of  this  volume. 

The  morals  of  families  were  watched  with  unre- 
lentino;  vio;ilance.  Frontenac  writes  in  a  mood 
unusually  temperate,  "they  {the  pj'iests)  are  full 
of  virtue  and  piety,  and  if  their  zeal  were  less 
vehement  and  more  moderate  they  would  perhaps 
succeed  better  in  their  efforts  for  the  conversion 
of  souls ;  but  they  often  use  means  so  extraor- 
dinary, and  in  France  so  unusual,  that  they  re- 
pel most  people  instead  of  persuading  them.  I 
sometimes  tell  them  my  views  franldy  and  as 
gently  as  I  can,  as  I  know  the  murmurs  that  their 
conduct  excites,  and  often  receive  complaints  of 
the  constraint  under  which  they  place  consciences. 
This  is  above  all  the  case  with  the  ecclesiastics  at 
Montreal,  where  there  is  a  cure  from  Franche 
Comte  who  wants  to  establish  a  sort  of  inquisition 
worse  than  that  of  Spain,  and  all  out  of  an  excess 
of  zeal."^ 

It  was  this  cure,  no  doubt,  of  whom  La  Hon- 
■'•an  complains.  That  unsanctitied  young  officer 
was  quartered  at  Montreal,  in  the  house  of  one 
of  the  inhabitants.  "  During  a  part  of  the 
winter  I  was  hunting  with  the  Algonquins ;  the 
rest  of  it  I  spent  here  very  disagreeably.  One 
can  neither  go  on  a  pleasure  party,  nor  play  a 
game  of  cards,  nor  visit  the  ladies,  without  the 
cure  knowing  it  and  preaching  about  it  iDublicly 
from  his  pulpit.     The  priests  excommunicate  mas- 

1  Frontenac  au  Minislre,  20  Oct.,  1691. 


1663-1700.]         LA  MOTTE   AND   THE   PRIESTS.  349 

queraders,  and  even  go  in  search  of  them  to  pull 
off  their  masks  and  overwhelm  them  with  abuse. 
They  watch  more  closely  over  the  women  and 
girls  than  their  husbands  and  fathers.  They  pro- 
hibit and  burn  all  books  but  books  of  devotion.  I 
cannot  think  of  this  tyranny  without  cursing  the 
indiscreet  zeal  of  the  cure  of  this  town.  He  came 
to  the  house  where  I  hved,  and,  finding  some 
books  on  my  table,  presently  pounced  on  the 
romance  of  Petronius,  which  I  valued  more  than 
my  life  because  it  was  not  mutilated.  He  tore  out 
almost  all  the  leaves,  so  that  if  niy  host  had  not 
restrained  me  when  I  came  in  and  saw  the  miser- 
able wreck,  I  should  have  run  after  this  rampant 
shepherd  and  torn  out  every  hair  of  his  beard."  ^ 

La  Motte-Cadillac,  the  founder  of  Detroit,  seems 
to  have  had  equal  difficulty  in  keej)ing  his  tem- 
per. "  Neither  men  of  honor  nor  men  of  parts 
are  endured  in  Canada ;  nobody  can  live  here  but 
simpletons  and  slaves  of  the  ecclesiastical  domina- 
tion. The  count  [Frontenac)  would  not  have  so 
many  troublesome  affairs  on  his  hands  if  he  had 
not  abolished  a  Jericho  in  the  shape  of  a  house 
built  by  messieurs  of  the  seminary  of  Montreal,  to 
shut  up,  as  they  said,  girls  who  caused  scanchil ;  if 
he  had  allowed  them  to  take  officers  and  soldiers  to 
go  into  houses  at  midnight  and  carry  off  women 
from  their  husbands  and  whip  them  till  the  blood 
flowed  because  they  had  been  at  a  ball  or  worn  a 
mask ;    if  he  had  said  nothing  against  the  curea 

1  La  Hontan,  I.  60  (ed.  1709).  Other  editions  contain  the  eame  story 
In  different  words. 


350  PRIESTS  AND  PEOPLE.  [1663-1700 

who  went  the  rounds  with  the  soldiers  and  com- 
pelled women  and  girls  to  shut  themselves  up  in 
their  houses  at  nine  o'clock  of  summer  evenings ; 
if  he  had  forbidden  the  wearing  of  lace,  and  made 
no  objection  to  the  refusal  of  the  communion  to 
women  of  quality  because  they  wore  a  fontamje  ; 
if  he  had  not  opposed  excommunications  flung  about 
without  sense  or  reason ;  if,  I  say,  the  count  had 
been  of  this  way  of  thinking  he  would  have  stood 
as  a  nonpareil,  and  have  been  put  very  soon  on 
the  Hst  of  saints,  for  saint-making  is  cheap  in  this 
country."^ 

-:  '  "V\rhile  the  Sulpitians  were  thus  rigorous  at 
Montreal,  the  bishop  and  his  Jesuit  allies  were 
scarcely  less  so  at  Quebec.  There  was  little  good- 
will between  them  and  the  Sulpitians,  and  some  of 
the  sharpest  charges  against  the  followers  of  Loyola 
are  brought  by  their  brother  priests  at  Montreal. 
The  Sulpitian  AUet  writes :  "  The  Jesuits  hold  such 
domination  over  the  people  of  this  country  that 
they  go  into  the  houses  and  see  every  thing  that 
passes  there.  They  then  tell  what  they  have 
learned  to  each  other  at  their  meetings,  and  on 
this  information  they  govern  their  policy.  The 
Jesuit,  Father  Ragueneau,  used  to  go  every  day 
down  to  the  Lower  Town,  where  the  merchants 
live,  to  find  out  all  that  was  going  on  in  their 
families ;  and  he  often  made  people  get  up  from 
table  to  confess  to  him."  AUet  goes  on  to  say 
that  Father  Chatelain  also  went  continually  to  the 
Lower  Town  with  the  same  object,  and  that  some 

1  Tm  Motte-Cadillac  a ,  28  Sept.,  1694. 


1663-1700.]  JESXHT  ACTIVITY.  351 

of  the  inhabitants  complained  of  him  to  Cour- 
celle,  the  governor.  One  day  Courcelle  saw  the 
Jesuit,  who  was  old  and  somewhat  infirm,  slowly 
walking  by  the  Chateau,  cane  in  hand,  on  his 
usual  errand,  on  which  he  sent  a  sergeant  after 
him  to  request  that  he  would  not  go  so  often  to 
the  Lower  Town,  as  the  people  were  annoyed  by 
the  frequency  of  his  visits.  The  father  replied  in 
wrath,  "  Go  and  tell  Monsieur  de  Courcelle  that  T 
have  been  there  ever  since  he  was  governor,  and 
that  I  shall  go  there  after  he  has  ceased  to  be 
governor ; "  and  he  kept  on  his  way  as  before. 
Courcelle  reported  his  answer  to  the  superior,  Le 
Mercier,  and  demanded  to  have  him  sent  home  as 
a  punishment;  but  the  superior  effected  a  com- 
promise. On  the  following  Thursday,  after  mass 
in  the  cathedral,  he  invited  Courcelle  into  the 
sacristy,  where  Father  Chatelain  was  awaiting 
them ;  and  here,  at  Le  Mercier's  order,  the  old 
priest  begged  pardon  of  the  offended  governor  on 
his  knees.^ 

The  Jesuits  derived  great  power  from  the  con- 
fessional ;  and,  if  their  accusers  are  to  be  believed, 
they  employed  unusual  means  to  make  it  effective. 
Cavelier  de  la  Salle  says :  "  They  will  confess  nobody 
till  he  tells  his  name,  and  no  servant  till  he  tells 
the  name  of  his  master.  When  a  crime  is  con- 
fessed, they  insist  on  knowing  the  name  of  the 
accomplice,  as  well  as  aU  the  circumstances,  with 

»  AUmmre  d'AUet.  Tlie  author  was  at  one  time  secretary  to  Abbd 
Qu^lus.  The  paper  is  printed  in  tlie  Morale  pratique  des  J<fsuites.  TJi« 
above  is  one  of  many  curious  statements  wiiich  it  contains. 


352  PKIESTS   AND  PEOPLE.  [1663-1700. 

the  greatest  particularity.  Father  Chatelain  es- 
pecially never  fails  to  do  this.  They  enter  as  it 
were  by  force  into  the  secrets  of  famihes,  and  thus 
make  themselves  formidable ;  for  what  cannot  be 
done  by  a  clever  man  devoted  to  his  work,  who 
knows  all  the  secrets  of  every  family ;  above  all 
when  he  permits  himself  to  tell  them  when  it  is 
for  his  interest  to  do  so  ?  " ' 

The  association  of  women  and  girls  known  as 
the  Congregation  of  the  Holy  Family,  which  was 
formed  under  Jesuit  auspices,  and  which  met  every 
Thursday  with  closed  doors  in  the  cathedral,  is  said 
to  have  been  very  useful  to  the  fathers  in  their 
social  investigations.^  The  members  are  affirmed 
to  have  been  under  a  vow  to  tell  each  other  every 
good  or  evil  deed  they  knew  of  every  person  of 
their  acquaintance ;  so  that  tliis  pious  gossip  be- 
came a  copious  source  of  information  to  those  in  a 
position  to  draw  upon  it.  In  Talon's  time  the  Con- 
gregation of  the  Holy  Family  caused  such  com- 
motion in  Quebec  that  he  asked  the  council  to 
appoint  a  commission  to  inquire  into  its  proceed- 
ings. He  was  touching  dangerous  ground.  The 
affair  was  presently  hushed,  and  the  apphcation 
cancelled  on  the  register  of  the  council.^ 

The  Jesuits  had  long  exercised  solely  the  func- 
tion of  confessors  in  the  colony,  and  a  number  of 

1  La  Salle,  M^moire,  1678. 

2  See  Discovery  of  the  Great  West,  105. 

*  Representation  faite  au  conseil  au  sujet  de  certaines  assemblies  de  femmes 
oujilles  sous  le  nom  de  la  Sainte  Famille,  1667.  (Registre  du  Corned  Souverain.) 
The  paper  is  cancelled  by  lines  drawn  over  it ;  and  the  following  minute, 
duly  attested,  is  appended  to  it :  "  Raye  du  consentement  de  M.  Talon  " 


1G63.1700.J  THE  RECOLLETS.  363 

curious  anecdotes  are  on  record  showing  the  re- 
luctance with  which  they  admitted  the  secular 
priests,  and  above  all  the  Eecollets,  to  share  in  it. 
The  Recollets,  of  whom  a  considerable  number  had 
arrived  from  time  to  time,  were  on  excellent  terms 
with  the  civil  powers,  and  were  popular  with  the 
colonists ;  but  with  the  bishop  and  the  Jesuits  they 
were  not  in  favor,  and  one  or  two  sharp  collisions 
took  place.  The  bishop  was  naturally  annoyed 
when,  while  he  was  trying  to  persuade  the  king 
that  a  cure  needed  at  least  six  hundred  francs  a 
year,  these  mendicant  friars  came  forward  with  an 
offer  to  serve  the  parishes  for  nothing ;  nor  was  he, 
it  is  likely,  better  pleased  when,  having  asked  the 
hospital  nuns  eight  hundred  francs  annually  for 
two  masses  a  day  in  their  chapel,  the  Recollets 
underbid  him,  and  offered  to  say  the  masses  for 
three,  hundred.^  They,  on  their  part,  complain 
bitterly  of  the  bishop,  who,  they  say,  would  gladly 
have  ordered  them  out  of  the  colony,  but  being 
unable  to  do  this,  tried  to  shut  them  up  in  their 
convent,  and  prevent  them  from  officiating  as 
priests  among  the  people.  "  We  have  as  little 
liberty,"  says  the  Recollet  writer,  "as  if  we  were 
ill  a  country  of  heretics."  He  adds  that  the  in- 
habitants ask  earnestly  for  the  ministrations  of 
the  friars,  but  that  the  bishop  replies  with  in- 
vectives and  calumnies  against  the  order,  and  that 


1  "  Mon  (lit  sieur  I'evesque  leur  fait  payer  {anx  hospitalitres)  800/.  par 
an  pour  deux  messes  qu'il  leur  fait  dire  par  ses  Seminaristes  que  les 
KccoUets  leurs  voisins  leur  offrent  pour  300/."  La  Barre  uu  J/wi/s/r*-, 
1682. 

23 


354  PRIESTS  AND  PEOPLE.  [1603-1700. 

when   the  Recollets  absolve  a  penitent  he  ofteL 
annuls  the  absoliition.^ 

In  one  respect  this  Canadian  church  militant 
achieved  a  complete  success.  Heresy  was  scoured 
out  of  the  colony.  When  Maintenon  and  her 
ghostly  prompters  overcame  the  better  nature  of 
the  king,  and  wrought  on  his  bigotry  and  his 
vanity  to  launch  liim  into  the  dragonnades ;  when 
violence  and  lust  bore  the  crucifix  into  thousands 
of  Huguenot  homes,  and  the  land  reeked  with 
nameless  infamies;  when  churches  rang  with  Te 
Deums,  and  the  heart  of  France  withered  in  an- 
guish ;  wheu;  in  short,  this  hideous  triumph  of  the 
faith  was  won,  the  royal  tool  of  priestly  ferocity 
sent  orders  that  heresy  should  be  treated  in  Canada 
as  it  had  been  treated  in  France.^  The  orders 
were  needless.  The  pious  Denonville  rephes, 
"  Praised  be  God,  there  is  not  a  heretic  here." 
He  adds  that  a  few  abjured  last  year,  and  that  he 
should  be  very  glad  if  the  king  would  make  them 
a  present.  The  Jesuits,  he  further  says,  go  every 
day  on  board  the  ships  in  the  harbor  to  look  after 
the  new  converts  from  France.^  Now  and  then  at 
a  later  day  a  real  or  suspected  Jansenist  found  his 
way  to  Canada,  and  sometimes  an  esprit  fort,  like 

1  M^moire  instructif  contenant  la  conduite  des  PP.  Ricollets  de  Paris  en 
leurs  missions  de  Canada,  1684.  This  paper,  of  which  only  a  fragment  is 
preserved,  was  written  in  connection  witli  a  dispute  of  the  Eecoliets  with 
the  bishop  who  opposed  their  attempt  to  estabhsh  a  church  in  Quebec. 

~  Memoire  du  Roij  a  Denonville,  31  Mai,  1686.  The  Icing  liere  orders 
tiie  imprisonment  of  heretics  who  refuse  to  abjure,  or  the  quartering  of 
soldiers  on  them.  What  this  meant  the  history  of  the  dragonnades  will 
show. 

3  Denonville  au  Ministre,  10  Nov.,  1686. 


1663-1700.]  THE  NUNS.  355 

La  Hontan,  came  over  with  the  troops ;  but  on  the 
whole  a  community  more  free  from  positive  hetero/ 
doxy  perhaps  never  existed  on  earth.  This  ex- 
emption cost  no  bloodshed.  What  it  did  cost  we 
may  better  judge  hereafter. 

If  Canada  escaped  the  dragonnades,  so  also  sh^\^ 
escaped  another  infliction  from  which  a  neighboring  \  .y^ 
colony  suffered  deplorably.  Her  peace  was  never 
much  troubled  by  witches.  They  were  held  to 
exist,  it  is  true ;  but  they  wrought  no  panic. 
Mother  Mary  of  the  Incarnation  reports  on  one 
occasion  the  discovery  of  a  magician  in  the  per- 
son of  a  converted  Huguenot  miller  who,  being 
refused  in  marriage  by  a  girl  of  Quebec,  be- 
witched her,  and  filled  the  house  where  she  lived 
with  demons,  which  the  bishop  tried  in  vain  to 
exorcise.  The  miller  was  thrown  into  prison, 
and  the  girl  sent  to  the  Hotel-Dieu,  where  not  a 
demon  dared  enter.  The  infernal  crew  took  their 
revenge  by  creating  a  severe  influenza  among  the 
citizens.^ 

If  there  are  no  Canadian  names  on  the  calendar 
of  saints,  it  is  not  because  in  by-ways  and  obscure 
places  Canada  had  not  virtues  worthy  of  canoniza- 
tion. Not  alone  her  male  martyrs  and  female 
devotees,  whose  merits  have  found  a  chronicle  and 
a  recognition ;  not  the  fantastic  devotion  of  Madame 
d'Aillebout,  who,  lest  she  should  not  suffer  enough, 
took  to  herself  a  vicious  and  refractory  servant 
girl,  as  an  exercise  of  patience ;  and  not  certainly 
the  mediaeval  pietism  of  Jeanne  Le  Ber,  the  ven- 

*  Marie  de  I'lncarnation,  Jxllrt  de  —  Sept.,  1661. 


356  PRIESTS  AND  PEOPLE.  [1662-1714 

eratecl  recluse  of  Montreal.  There  are  others  quite 
as  worthy  of  honor,  whose  names  have  died  from 
memory.  It  is  difficult  to  conceive  a  self-abnega- 
tion more  complete  than  that  of  the  hospital  nuns  of 
Quebec  and  Montreal.  In  the  almost  total  absence 
of  trained  and  skilled  physicians,  the  burden  of  the 
sick  and  wounded  fell  upon  them.  Of  the  two  com- 
munities, that  of  Montreal  was  the  more  wretch- 
edly destitute,  wlnle  that  of  Quebec  was  exposed, 
perhaps,  to  greater  dangers.  Nearly  every  ship 
from  France  brought  some  form  of  infection,  and 
all  infection  found  its  way  to  the  Hotel-Dieu  of 
Quebec.  The  nuns  died,  but  they  never  complained. 
Removed  from  the  arena  of  ecclesiastical  strife,  too 
busy  for  the  morbidness  of  the  cloister,  too  much 
absorbed  in  practical  benevolence  to  become  the 
prey  of  illusions,  they  and  their  sister  community 
were  models  of  that  benign  and  tender  charity  of 
wliich  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  is  so  rich  in 
examjoles.  Nor  should  the  Ursulines  and  the  nuns 
of  the  Congregation  be  forgotten  among  those 
who,  in  another  field  of  labor,  have  toiled  patiently 
according  to  their  light. 

Mademoiselle  Jeanne  Le  Ber  belonged  to  none 
of  these  sisterhoods.  She  was  the  favorite  daughter 
of  the  chief  merchant  of  Montreal,  the  same  who, 
with  the  help  of  his  money,  got  himself  ennobled. 
She  seems  to  have  been  a  girl  of  a  fine  and  sensitive 
nature ;  ardent,  affectionate,  and  extremely  sus- 
ceptible to  religious  impressions.  Religion  at  last 
gained  absolute  sway  over  her.  Notliing  could 
appease  her  longings  or  content  the  demands  of 


1662-1714.]  JEANNE  LE  BER.  357 

her  excited  conscience  but  an  entire  consecration 
of  herself  to  heaven.  Constituted  as  she  was,  the 
resolution  must  have  cost  her  an  agony  of  mental 
conflict.  Her  story  is  a  strange,  and;  as  many  will 
think,  a  very  sad  one.  She  renounced  her  suitors, 
and  wished  to  renounce  her  inheritance ;  but  her 
spiritual  directors,  too  far-sighted  to  permit  such 
a  sacrifice,  persuaded  her  to  hold  fast  to  her  claims, 
and  content  herself  with  what  they  called  "  poverty 
of  heart."  Her  mother  died,  and  her  father,  left 
with  a  family  of  young  children,  greatly  needed 
her  help ;  but  she  refused  to  leave  her  chamber 
where  she  had  immured  herself.  Here  she  re- 
mained ten  years,  seeing  nobody  but  her  confessor 
and  the  girl  who  brought  her  food.  Once  only  she 
emerged,  and  this  was  when  her  brother  lay  dead 
in  the  adjacent  room,  killed  in  a  fight  with  the 
English.  She  suddenly  appeared  before  her  aston- 
ished sisters,  stood  for  a  moment  in  silent  prayer 
by  the  body,  and  then  vanished  without  uttering  a 
word.  "  Such,"  says  her  modern  biographer,  "was 
the  sublimity  of  her  virtue  and  the  grandeur  of 
her  soul."  Not  content  Avith  this  domestic  seclu- 
sion, she  caused  a  cell  to  be  made  behind  the  altar 
in  the  newly  built  church  of  the  Congregation, 
and  here  we  will  permit  ourselves  to  cast  a  stolen 
glance  at  her  through  the  narrow  opening  through 
which  food  was  passed  in  to  her.  Her  bed,  a  pile 
of  straw  which  she  never  moved,  lest  it  should 
become  too  soft,  was  so  placed  that  her  head  could 
touch  the  partition,  that  alone  separated  it  from 
the  Host  on  the  altar.     Here  she  lay  wrapped  in 


358  PRIESTS   AND   PEOPLE.  [1662-1714 

a  garment  of  coarse  gray  serge,  worn,  tattered, 
and  unwashed.  An  old  blanket,  a  stool,  a  spinning- 
wheel,  a  belt  and  shirt  of  haircloth,  a  scourge,  and 
a  pair  of  shoes  made  by  herself  of  the  husks  of 
Indian-corn,  appear  to  have  formed  the  sum  of 
her  furniture  and  her  wardrobe.  Her  employ- 
ments were  spinning  and  worldng  embroidery  for 
churches.  She  remained  in  this  voluntary  prison 
about  twenty  years ;  and  the  nun  who  brought  her 
food  testifies  that  she  never  omitted  a  mortification 
or  a  prayer,  though  commonly  in  a  state  of  pro- 
found depression,  and  what  her  biographer  calls 
"  complete  spiritual  aridity." 

When  her  mother  died,  she  had  refused  to  see 
her ;  and,  long  after,  no  prayer  of  her  dying  father 
could  draw  her  from  her  cell.  "  In  the  person  of 
this  modest  virgin,"  writes  her  reverend  eulogist, 
"  we  see,  with  astonishment,  the  love  of  God 
triumphant  over  eartlily  affection  for  parents,  and 
a  complete  victory  of  faith  over  reason  and  of 
grace  over  nature." 

In  1711,  Canada  was  threatened  with  an  attack 
by  the  English;  and  she  gave  the  nuns  of  the 
Congregation  an  image  of  the  Virgin  on  which  she 
had  written  a  prayer  to  protect  their  granary  from 
the  invaders.  Other  persons,  anxious  for  a  similar 
protection,  sent  her  images  to  write  upon ;  but 
she  declined  the  request.  One  of  the  disappointed 
applicants  then  stole  the  inscribed  image  from  the 
granary  of  the  Congregation,  intending  to  place  it 
on  his  own  when  the  danger  drew  near.  The 
English,  however,  did  not  come,  their  fleet  having 


1662-1714.]  JEANNE  LE  BEB.  559 

suffered  a  ruinous  shipwreck  ascribed  to  the  prayers 
of  Jeanne  Le  Ber.  "  It  was,"  writes  the  Sulpitian 
Behnont,  "  the  greatest  miracle  that  ever  happened 
since  the  days  of  Moses."  Nor  was  this  the  only 
miracle  of  which  she  was  the  occasion.  She  her- 
self declared  that  once  when  she  had  broken  her 
epinnmg-wheel,  an  angel  came  and  mended  it  for 
her.  Angels  also  assisted  in  her  embroidery,  "no 
doubt,"  says  Mother  Juchereau,  "  taking  great 
pleasure  in  the  society  of  this  angelic  creature." 
In  the  church  where  she  had  secluded  herself,  an 
image  of  the  Virgin  continued  after  her  death  to 
Ileal  the  lame  and  cure  the  sick.^ 

Though  she  rarely  permitted  herself  to  speak, 
yet  some  oracular  utterance  of  the  sainted  recluse 
would  now  and  then  escape  to  the  outer  world. 
One  of  these  was  to  the  effect  that  teacliing  poor 
girls  to  read,  unless  they  wanted  to  be  nuns,  was 
robbinsi:  them  of  their  time.  Nor  was  she  far 
wrong,  for  in  Canada  there  was  very  little  to  read 
except  formulas  of  devotion  and  lives  of  saints. 
The  dangerous  innovation  of  a  printing-press  had 
not  invaded  the  colony,^  and  the  first  Canadian 
newspaper  dates  from  the  British  conquest. 

All  education  was  controlled  by  priests  or  nuns. 
The  ablest  teachers  in  Canada  were  the  Jesuits. 
Their  college  of  Quebec  was  three  years  older  than 

1  Faillon,  L'FI&o'ine  chr€lienne  du  Canada,  ou  Vie  de  Mile.  Le  Ber.  This 
is  a  most  elaltorate  and  eulogistic  life  of  the  recluse.  A  sliorter  account 
of  her  will  be  found  in  Juchereau,  Hdtel-Dieu.  She  died  in  1714,  at  the 
age  of  fifty -two. 

2  A  printing-press  was  afterwards  brought  to  Canada,  but  was  eoon 
Bent  back  again. 


360  PKIESTS  AND  PEOPLE.  [1663-176a 

Harvard.  We  hear  at  an  early  date  of  public 
disputations  by  the  pupils,  after  the  pattern  of 
those  tournaments  of  barren  logic  ■which  preceded 
the  reign  of  inductive  reason  in  Europe,  and  of 
which  the  archetype  is  to  be  found  in  the  scholastic 
duels  of  the  Sorbonne.  The  boys  were  sometimes 
permitted  to  act  certain  approved  dramatic  pieces 
of  a  religious  character,  like  the  Sage  Vision- 
naire.  On  one  occasion  they  were  allowed  to  play 
the  Cid  of  Corneille,  which,  though  remarkable  as 
a  literary  work,  contained  nothing  threatening  to 
orthodoxy.  They  were  taught  a  little  Latin,  a 
little  rhetoric,  and  a  httle  logic ;  but  against  all 
that  might  rouse  the  faculties  to  independent  action, 
the  Canadian  schools  prudently  closed  their  doors. 
There  was  then  no  rival  population,  of  a  different 
origin  and  a  different  faith,  to  compel  comj)etition 
in  the  race  of  intelligence  and  knowledge.  The 
church  stood  sole  mistress  of  the  field.  Under  the 
old  regime  the  real  object  of  education  in  Canada 
was  a  religious  and,  in  far  less  degree,  a  political 
yone.  The  true  purpose  of  the  schools  was :  first, 
'.  to  make  priests ;  and,  secondly,  to  make  obedient 
servants  of  the  church  and  the  Idng.  All  the  rest 
was  extraneous  and  of  slight  account.  In  regard 
to  this  matter,  the  king  and  the  bishop  were  of 
one  mind.  "As  I  have  been  informed,"  Louis 
XIV  writes  to  Laval,  "  of  your  continued  care  to 
hold  the  people  in  their  duty  towards  God  and 
towards  me  by  the  good  education  you  give  or 
cause  to  be  given  to  the  young,  I  write  this  letter 


16G3-1763.1  THE  INDUSTRIAL   SCHOOL.  361 

to  express  my  satisfaction  with  conduct  so  salutary, 
and  to  exhort  you  to  persevere  in  it."  ^ 

The  bishop  did  not  fail  to  persevere.  The  school 
for  boys  attached  to  his  seminary  became  the  most 
important  educational  institution  in  Canada.  It 
was  regulated  by  thirty-four  rules,  "  in  honor  of 
the  thirty-four  years  which  Jesus  lived  on  earth." 
The  qualities  commended  to  the  boys  as  those 
which  they  should  labor  diligently  to  acquire  were, 
"  humility,  obedience,  purity,  meekness,  modesty, 
simplicity,  chastity,  charity,  and  an  ardent  love  of 
Jesus  and  his  Holy  Mother."  ^  Here  is  a  goodly 
roll  of  Christian  virtues.  What  is  chiefly  noticeable 
in  it  is,  that  truth  is  allowed  no  place.  That  manlj 
but  unaccommodating  virtue  was  not,  it  seems, 
thought  important  in  forming  the  mind  of  youth. 
Humility  and  obedience  lead  the  list,  for  in  unques- 
tioning submission  to  the  spiritual  director  lay  the 
guaranty  of  all  other  merits. 

We  have  seen  already  that,  besides  this  seminary 
for  boys,  Laval  established  another  for  educating 
the  humbler  colonists.  It  was  a  sort  of  farm-school, 
thousch  besides  farminor  various  mechanical  trades 
were  also  taught  in  it.  It  was  well  adapted  to 
the  wants  of  a  great  majority  of  Canadians,  whose 
tendencies  were  any  thing  but  booldsh ;  but  here, 
as  elsewhere,  the  real  object  was  religious.  It 
enabled  the  church  to  extend  her  influence  over  / 
classes  which  the  ordinary  schools  could  not  reach/ 
Besides  manual  training,  the  pupils  were  taught  to 

'  Le  Roy  a  Laval,  9  Avril,  1667  (extract  in  Faillon). 

2  Ancien  r€qlement  du  Petit  S^minnire  de  Quebec,  see  A^cilU  VIII.,  no.  32 


362  PRIESTS  AND   PEOPLE.  [1663-1763. 

read  and  write  ;  and  for  a  time  a  certain  number  of 
them  received  some  instruction  in  Latin.  .  When, 
in  1686,  Saint- VaUier  visited  the  school,  he  found 
in  all  thirty-one  boys  under  the  charge  of  two 
priests ;  but  the  number  was  afterwards  gi^eatlj^ 
reduced,  and  the  place  served,  as  it  still  serves, 
chiefly  as  a  retreat  during  vacations  for  the  priests 
and  pupils  of  the  seminary  of  Quebec.  A  spot 
better  suited  for  such  a  purpose  cannot  be  con- 
ceived. 

From  the  vast  meadows  of  the  parish  of  St. 
Joachim,  that  here  border  the  St.  Lawrence,  there 
rises  like  an  island  a  low  flat  hill,  hedged  round 
with  forests  hke  the  tonsured  head  of  a  monk.  It 
was  here  that  Laval  planted  his  school.  Across 
the  meadows,  a  mile  or  more  distant,  towers  the 
mountain  promontory  of  Cape  Tourmente.  You 
may  climb  its  woody  steeps,  and  from  the  top, 
waist-deep  in  blueberry-bushes,  survey,  from  Ka- 
mouraska  to  Quebec,  the  grand  Canadian  world 
outstretched  below ;  or  mount  the  neighboring 
heights  of  St.  Anne,  where,  athwart  the  gaunt 
arms  of  ancient  pines,  the  river  lies  shimmering  in 
summer  haze,  the  cottages  of  the  hahifcmts are  strung 
like  beads  of  a  rosary  along  the  meadows  of  Beau- 
pr^,  the  shores  of  Orleans  bask  in  warm  light,  and 
far  on  the  horizon  the  rock  of  Quebec  rests  like  a 
faint  gray  cloud ;  or  traverse  the  forest  till  the 
roar  of  the  torrent  guides  you  to  the  rocky  solitude 
where  it  holds  its  savage  revels.  High  on  the 
cliffs  above,  young  birch-trees  stand  smiling  in  the 
morning  sun  ;  w^hile  in  the  abyss  beneath  the  snowy 


1663-1763.]  SAINT  ANNE.  3C3 

waters  plunge  from  depth  to  depth,  and,  half  way 
down,  the  slender  hare-beU  hangs  from  its  mossy 
nook,  quivering  in  the  steady  thunder  of  the 
cataract.  Game  on  the  river  ;  trout  in  lakes, 
brooks,  and  pools  ;  wild  fruits  and  flowers  on 
meadows  and  mountains,  —  a  thousand  resources 
of  honest  and  wholesome  recreation  here  wait  the 
student  emancipated  from  books,  but  not  parted 
for  a  moment  from  the  pious  influence  that  hangs 
about  the  old  walls  embosomed  in  the  woods  of 
St.  Joachim.  Around  on  plains  and  hills  stand 
the  dwellings  of  a  peaceful  peasantry,  as  different 
from  the  restless  population  of  the  neighboring 
states  as  the  denizens  of  some  Norman  or  Breton 
village. 

Above  all,  do  not  fail  to  make  your  pilgrimage 
to  the  shrine  of  St.  Anne.  You  may  see  her 
chapel  four  or  five  miles  away,  nestled  under  the 
heights  of  the  Petit  Cap.  Here,  when  AiUebout 
was  governor,  he  began  with  his  own  hands  the 
pious  work,  and  a  habitant  of  Beaupre,  Louis 
Guimont,  sorely  afflicted  with  rheumatism,  came 
grinning  with  pain  to  lay  three  stones  in  the 
foundation,  in  honor  probably  of  Saint  Anne, 
Saint  Joachim,  and  their  daughter,  the  Virgin.  In- 
stantly he  was  cured.  It  was  but  the  beginning  of 
a  long  course  of  miracles  continued  more  than  two 
centuries,  and  continuing  still.  Their  fame  spread 
far  and  wide.  The  devotion  to  Saint  Anne  became 
a  distinguishing  feature  of  Canadian  Catholicity,  till 
at  the  present  day  at  least  thirteen  parishes  bear 
her  name.     But  of  all  her  shrines  none  can  match 


364  PRIESTS   AND  TEOPLE.  [1663-1763. 

the  fame  of  St.  Anne  du  Petit  Cap.  Crowds 
flocked  thither  on  the  week  of  her  festival,  and 
marvellous  cures  were  wrought  unceasingly,  as 
the  sticks  and  crutches  hanging  on  the  walls  and 
columns  still  attest.  Sometimes  the  whole  shore 
was  covered  with  the  wigwams  of  Indian  converts 
who  had  paddled  their  birch  canoes  from  the 
farthest  wilds  of  Canada.  The  more  fervent 
among  them  Avould  crawl  on  their  knees  from  the 
shore  to  the  altar.  And,  in  our  own  day,  every 
summer  a  far  greater  concourse  of  pilgrims,  not 
in  paint  and  feathers,  but  in  cloth  and  millinery, 
and  not  in  canoes,  but  in  steamboats,  bring  their 
offerings  and  their  vows  to  the  "  Bonne  Sainte 
Anne."  ^ 

_  To  return  to  Laval's  industrial  school.  Judging 
from  repeated  complaints  of  governors  and  intend- 
ants  of  the  dearth  of  skilled  workmen,  the  priests 
in  charge  of  it  were  more  successful  in  making 
good  Catholics  than  in  making  good  masons,  car- 
penters, blacksmiths,  and  weavers ;  and  the  num- 
ber of  pupils,  even  if  well  trained,  was  at  no  time 
sufficient  to  meet  the  wants  of  the  colony;^  for, 
though   the    Canadians    showed   an   aptitude    for 

'  For  an  interesting  account  of  the  shrine  at  the  Petit  Cap,  see  Cas- 
grain,  Le  P€l^rmage  de  la  Bonne  Sainte  Anne,  a  Uttle  manual  of  devotion 
printed  at  Quebec.  I  clianced  to  visit  the  old  chapel  in  1871,  during  a 
meeting  of  the  parish  to  consider  the  question  of  reconstructing  it,  as 
It  was  in  a  ruinous  state.  Passing  that  way  again  two  years  after,  1 
found  the  old  chapel  still  standing,  and  a  new  one,  much  larger,  half 
finished. 

-  Most  of  them  were  moreover  retained,  after  leaving  the  school,  by 
the  seminary,  as  servants,  farmers,  or  vassals.  La  Tour,  Vie  de  Laval, 
Uv.  VI 


I6G3-1763.]  RESULTS.  365 

mechanical  trades,  they  preferred  above  all  thinga 
the  savage  liberty  of  the  backwoods. 

The  education  of  girls  was  in  the  hands  of  the 
Ursiilines  and  the  nuns  of  the  Congregation,  of 
whom  the  former,  besides  careful  instruction  in 
religious  duties,  taught  their  pupils  "  all  that  a  girl 
ought  to  know."  ^  Tliis  meant  exceedingly  Httle 
besides  the  manual  arts  suited  to  their  sex ;  and, 
in  the  case  of  the  nuns  of  the  Congregation,  who 
taught  girls  of  the  poorer  class,  it  meant  still  less. 
It  was  on  nuns  as  well  as  on  priests  that  the  charge 
fell,  not  only  of  spiritual  and  mental,  but  also  of 
industrial,  training.  Thus  we  find  the  king  giving 
to  a  sisterhood  of  Montreal  a  thousand  francs  to 
buy  wool,  and  a  thousand  more  for  teaching  girls 
to  knit.^  The  king  also  maintained  a  teacher  of 
navigation  and  surveying  at  Quebec  on  the  modest 
salary  of  four  hundred  francs. 

During  the  eighteenth  century,  some  improve- 
ment is  perceptible  in  the  mental  sta\.  of  the 
population.  As  it  became  more  numerous  and 
more  stable,  it  also  became  less  ignorant ;  and  the 
Canadian  habitant,  towards  the  end  of  the  French 
rule,  was  probably  better  taught,  so  far  as  concerned 
religion,  than  the  mass  of  French  peasants.  Yet 
secular  instruction  was  stiU  extremely  meagre,  even 
in  the  noblesse.  "  In  spite  of  this  defective  educa- 
tion," says  the  famous  navigator,  Bougainville,  who 
knew  the  colony  well  in  its  last  years,  "  the  Cana- 

1  A  lire,  h  ccrire,  les  pri^res,  les  moeurs  chretiennes,  et  tout  ce  qu'une 
fiUe  doit  savoir.     Marie  de  I'lncarnation,  Letlre  du  9  Aout,  1668. 
-  Denonville  au  Ministre,  13  Nov.,  1685. 


S66  PRIESTS   AND   PEOPLE.  [1G63-1763. 

dians  are  naturally  intelligent.  They  do  not  know 
how  to  write,  but  they  speak  with  ease  and  with 
an  accent  as  good  as  the  Parisian."  ^  He  means, 
of  course,  the  better  class.  "Even  the  children 
of  officers  and  gentlemen,"  says  another  writer, 
''  scarcely  know  how  to  read  and  write ;  they  are 
ignorant  of  the  first  elements  of  geography  and 
history."  ^  And  evidence  like  this  might  be  ex- 
tended. 

When  France  was  heaving  with  the  throes 
that  prepared  the  Revolution;  when  new  hopes, 
new  dreams,  new  thoughts,  —  good  and  evil,  false 
and  true,  —  tossed  the  troubled  w^aters  of  French 
society,  Canada  caught  something  of  its  social 
corruption,  but  not  the  faintest  impulsion  of  its 
roused  mental  life.  The  torrent  suro-ed  on  its 
w^ay ;  while,  in  the  deep  nook  beside  it,  the  sticks 
and  dry  leaves  floated  their  usual  round,  and  the 
unruffled  pool  slept  in  the  placidity  of  intellectual 
torpor.^ 

1  Bougainville,  Mlmoire  de  1757  (see  Margry,  Relations  inedites). 

2  Memoire  de  17o6 ;  Detail  de  toute  la  Colonie  (published  by  Hist.  Soc.  of 
Quebec). 

3  Several  Frenchmen  of  a  certain  intellectual  eminence  made  tlieir 
j  abode  in  Canada  from  time  to  time.     The  chief  among  them  are  the 

Jesuit  Lafitau,  author  of  Moeurs  des  Sauvages  Amiricains ;  the  Jesuit 
Charlevoix,  traveller  and  historian  ;  the  physician  Sarrazin  ;  and  the 
Marquis  de  la  Galisonniere,  the  most  enlightened  of  the  French  gover- 
nors of  Canada.  Sarrazin,  a  naturalist  as  well  as  a  physician,  has  left 
his  name 'to  the  botanical  genus  Sarracenia,  of  which  the  curious  Amer- 
ican species,  S.  purpurea,  the  "  pitcher-plant,"  was  described  by  him. 
His  position  in  the  colony  was  singular  and  characteristic.  He  got  little 
\  or  no  pay  from  his  patients  ;  and,  tlioug!)  at  one  time  the  only  genuine 
physician  in  Canada  (CnVieres  et  Beauharnois  au  ^fillistre,  3  Noi\,  1702), 
he  was  dependent  on  the  king  for  support.  In  1699,  we  find  him  thank- 
ing his  Majesty  for  300  francs  a  year,  and  asking  at  the  same  time  for 


1663-1763.]  MICHEL   SARRAZIN.  367 

more,  as  he  has  notliing  else  to  live  on.  ( Callieres  et  Champigny  au  Ministre, 
20  Oct.,  1699.)  Two  years  later  the  governor  writes  that,  as  he  serves 
almost  everyhody  witliout  fees,  he  ought  to  have  another  300  francs. 
{Ibid.,  5  Oct.,  1701.)  The  additional  300  francs  was  given  hini ;  but,  find- 
ing it  insufficient,  he  wanted  to  leave  the  colony.  "  He  is  too  useful," 
writes  the  governor  again :  "  we  cannot  let  him  go."  His  yearly  pittance 
of  600  francs,  French  money,  was  at  one  time  re-enforced  by  his  salary 
as  member  of  the  Superior  Council.     He  died  at  Quebec  in  1734, 


CHAPTER   XX. 

1640-1763. 

MORALS  AND   MANNERS. 

Social  Influence  of  the  Troops.  —  A  Petty  Tyrant. — Brawls. 
—  Violence  and  Outlawry.  —  State  of  the  Population.  — 
Views  of  Denonville.  —  Brandy.  —  Beggary.  —  The  Past  and 
THE  Present.  —  Inns.  —  State  of  Quebec.  —  Fires.  —  The 
Country  Parishes.  —  Slavery. —  Views  of  La  Hontan.  —  Of 
HocQUART.  —  Of  Bougainville.  —  Of  Kalm.  —  Of  Charlevoix, 

The  mission  period  of  Canada,  or  the  period 
anterior  to  the  year  1663,  when  the  king  took  the 
colony  in  charge,  has  a  character  of  its  o\vn.  The 
whole  population  did  not  exceed  that  of  a  large 
Erench  village.  Its  extreme  poverty,  the  constant 
danger  that  surrounded  it,  and,  above  all,  the  con- 
tagious zeal  of  the  missionaries,  saved  it  from 
many  vices,  and  inspired  it  with  an  extraordinary 
religious  fervor.  Without  doubt  an  ideal  picture 
has  been  drawn  of  this  early  epoch.  Trade  as 
well  as  propagandism  was  the  business  of  the 
colony,  and  the  colonists  were  far  from  being  all  in 
a  state  of  grace ;  yet  it  is  certain  that  zeal  was 
higher,  devotion  more  constant,  and  popular  morals 
more  pure,  than  at  any  later  period  of  the  French 
rule. 

The  intervention  of  the  king  wrought  a  change. 
The  annual  shipments  of  emigrants  made  by  him 


1663-73.]  CHANGE   OF   MANNERS.  3C9 

were,  in  the  most  favorable  view,  of  a  very  mixed 
character,  and  the  portion  which  Mother  Mary 
calls  canaille  was  but  too  conspicuous.  Along  with 
them  came  a  regiment  of  soldiers  fresh  from  the 
license  of  camps  and  the  excitements  of  Turkish 
wars,  accustomed  to  obey  their  officers  and  to  obey 
nothing  else,  and  more  ready  to  wear  the  scapylary 
of  the  Virgin  in  campaigns  against  the  Mohawks 
than  to  square  their  lives  by  the  rules  of  Christian 
ethics.  "  Our  good  king,"  writes  Sister  Morin,  of 
Montreal,  "  has  sent  troops  to  defend  us  from  the 
Troquois,  and  the  soldiers  and  officers  have  ruined 
the  Lord's  vineyard,  and  planted  wickedness  and 
sin  and  crime  in  our  soil  of  Canada."^  Few^,  in- 
deed, among  the  officers  followed  the  example  of 
one  of  their  number,  Paul  Dupuy,  who,  in  his 
settlement  of  Isle  aux  Oies,  below  Quebec,  lived,  it 
is  said,  like  a  saint,  and  on  Sundays  and  fete  days 
exhorted  his  servants  and  habitans  with  such 
unction  that  their  eyes  filled  with  tears.^  Nor,  let 
us  hope,  were  there  many  imitators  of  Major  La 
Frediere,  who,  with  a  company  of  the  regiment, 
was  sent  to  garrison  Montreal,  where  he  ruled  with 
absolute  sway  over  settlers  and  soldiers  alike.  His 
countenance  naturally  repulsive  was  made  more  so 
])y  the  loss  of  an  eye ;  yQi  he  was  irrepressible  in 
gallantry,  and  women  and  girls  fled  in  terror  from 
the  military  Polj^phemus.  The  men,  too,  feared 
and  hated  him,  not  without  reason.  One  morning 
a  settler  named  Demers  was  hoeing  his  field,  when 

1  Annales  de  I'Holel-Dieu  Si  Joseph,  cited  by  Faillon. 

2  Jucliereau,  Hotel-Dieu  de  Quebec,  611 

24 


870  MORALS  AND   MANNERS.  [1663-73 

he  saw  a  sportsman  gim  in  hand  striding  through 
his  half-grown  wheat.  "  Steady  there,  steady," 
he  shouted  in  a  tone  of  remonstrance ;' but  the 
sportsman  gave  no  heed.  "  Why  do  you  spoil  a 
poor  man's  wheat  ?  "  cried  the  outraged  cultivator. 
"  If  I  knew  who  you  were,  I  would  go  and  com- 
plain of  you."  "  Whom  would  you  complain  to  ?  " 
demanded  the  sportsman,  who  then  proceeded  to 
walk  back  into  the  middle  of  the  wheat,  and  called 
out  to  Demers,  "  You  are  a  rascal,  and  I'll  thrash 
you."  "  Look  at  home  for  rascals,"  retorted  De- 
mers, "  and  keep  your  thrashing  for  your  dogs." 
The  sportsman  came  towards  him  in  a  rage  to 
execute  his  threat.  Demers  picked  up  his  gun, 
which,  after  the  custom  of  the  time,  he  had 
brought  to  the  field  with  him,  and,  advancing  to 
meet  his  adversary,  recognized  La  Frediere,  the 
commandant.  On  this  he  ran  off.  La  Frediere 
sent  soldiers  to  arrest  him,  threw  him  into  prison, 
put  him  in  irons,  and  the  next  day  mounted  him 
on  the  wooden  horse,  with  a  weight  of  sixty 
pounds  tied  to  each  foot.  He  repeated  the  torture 
a  day  or  two  after,  and  then  let  his  victim  go,  say- 
ing, "  If  I  coidd  have  caught  you  when  I  was  in 
your  wheat,  I  would  have  beaten  you  well." 

The  commandant  next  turned  his  quarters  into 
a  dram-shop  for  Indians,  to  whom  he  sold  brandy 
in  large  quantities,  but  so  diluted  that  his  cus- 
tomers, finding  themselves  partially  defrauded  of 
their  right  of  intoxication,  complained  grievously. 
About  this  time  the  intendant  Talon  made  one  of 
his  domiciliary  visits  to  Montreal,  and  when,  in  his 


1663-73.]  BRAWLS.  371 

character  of  father  of  the  people,  he  inquired  if 
thej  had  any  complaints  to  make,  every  tongue 
was  loud  in  accusation  against  La  Frediere.  Talon 
caused  full  depositions  to  be  made  out  from  the 
statements  of  Demers  and  other  witnesses.  Copies 
were  deposited  in  the  hands  of  the  notary,  and  it 
is  from  these  that  the  above  story  is  drawn.  The 
tyrant  was  removed,  and  ordered  home  to  France.^ 
Many  other  officers  embarked  in  the  profitable 
trade  of  selUng  brandy  to  Indians,  and  several  gar- 
rison posts  became  centres  of  disorder.  Others, 
of  the  regiment  became  notorious  brawlers.  A  lieu- 
tenant of  the  garrison  of  Montreal  named  Carion, 
and  an  ensign  named  Morel,  had  for  some  reason 
conceived  a  violent  grudge  against  another  ensign 
named  Lormeau.  On  Pentecost  day,  just  after 
vespers,  Lormeau  was  walking  by  the  river  vnth. 
his  wife.  They  had  passed  the  common  and  the 
seminary  wall,  and  were  in  front  of  the  house  of 
the  younger  Charles  Le  Moyne,  when  they  saw 
Carion  coming  towards  them.  He  stopped  before 
Lormeau,  looked  him  full  in  the  face,  and  ex- 
claimed, "  Coward."  "  Coward  yourself,"  returned 
Lormeau ;  "  take  yourself  oif ."  Carion  drew  his 
sword,  and  Lormeau  followed  his  example.  They 
exchanged  a  few  passes ;  then  closed,  and  fell  to  the 
ground  grappled  together.  Lormeau's  wig  fell  off; 
and  Carion,  getting  the  uppermost,  hammered  his 
bare  head  with  the  hilt  of  his  sword.     Lormeau's 


1  Information  centre  La  Frediere.  See  Faillon,  Colonie  Frati^aise,!!!. 
886.  The  dialogue,  as  here  given  from  tlie  depositions,  is  translated 
as  closely  as  possible. 


372  MORALS  AND  MANNERS.  [1663-73 

wife,  in  a  frenzy  of  terror,  screamed  murder.  One 
of  the  neighbors,  Monsieur  Beletre,  was. at  table 
with  Charles  Le  Moyne  and  a  Rochelle  merchant 
named  Baston.  He  ran  out  with  his  two  guests, 
and  they  tried  to  separate  the  combatants,  who 
still  lay  on  the  ground  foaming  like  a  pair  of  en- 
raged bull-dogs.  All  their  efforts  were  useless. 
"  Very  well,"  said  Le  Moyne  in  disgust,  "  if  you 
won't  let  go,  then  kill  each  other  if  you  like."  A 
former  miHtary  servant  of  Carion  now  ran  up,  and 
began  to  brandish  his  sword  in  behalf  of  his  late 
master.  Carion's  comrade.  Morel,  also  arrived, 
and,  regardless  of  the  angry  protest  of  Le  Moyne, 
stabbed  repeatedly  at  Lormeau  as  he  lay.  Lor- 
meau  had  received  two  or  three  wounds  in  the 
hand  and  arm  with  which  he  parried  the  thrusts, 
and  was  besides  severely  mauled  by  the  sword- 
hilt  of  Carion,  when  two  Sulpitian  priests,  drawn 
by  the  noise,  appeared  on  the  scene.  One  was 
Fremont,  the  cure ;  the  other  was  Dollier  de 
Casson.  That  herculean  father,  whose  past  soldier 
life  had  made  him  at  home  in  a  fray,  and  who 
cared  nothing  for  drawn  swords,  set  himseK  at 
once  to  restore  peace,  upon  which,  whether  from 
the  strength  of  liis  arm,  or  the  mere  effect  of  his 
presence,  the  two  champions  released  their  gripe 
on  each  other's  throats,  rose,  sheathed  their  wea- 
pons, and  left  the  field.^ 

Montreal,  a  frontier  town  at  the  head  of  the 

1  lieqnete  de  Lormeau  a  M.  d'AiUebout.  D^osi'tions  de  MM.  de 
Longueuil  [Le  Moyne),  de  Baston,  de  Beletre,  et  autres.  Cited  by  Faillon, 
Colonic  Frangaise,  III.  393. 


1663-73.]      THE  OUTLAW  OF  MONTREAL.        373 

colony,  was  the  natural  resort  of  desperadoes,-^ 
offering,  as  we  have  seen,  a  singular  contrast  be- 
tween the  rigor  of  its  clerical  seigniors  and  the 
riotous  license  of  the  lawless  crew  wliich  infested  it. 
D oilier  de  Casson  tells  the  story  of  an  outlaw  who 
broke  prison  ten  or  twelve  times,  and  whom  no 
walls,  locks,  or  fetters  could  hold.  "  A  few  months 
ago,"  he  says,  "  he  was  caught  again,  and  put  into 
the  keeping  of  six  or  seven  men,  each  with  a  good 
gun.  They  stacked  their  arms  to  play  a  game  of 
cards,  which  their  prisoner  saw  fit  to  interrupt  to 
pilay  a  game  of  his  own.  He  made  a  jump  at 
the  guns,  took  them  under  his  arm  like  so  many 
feathers,  aimed  at  these  fellows  with  one  of  them, 
swearing  that  he  would  kill  the  first  who  came  near 
him,  and  so,  falling  back  step  by  step,  at  last  bade 
them  good-by,  and  carried  off  all  their  guns. 
Since  then  he  has  not  been  caught,  and  is  roaming 
the  woods.  Very  likely  he  will  become  cliief  of 
our  banditti,  and  make  great  trouble  in  the  coun- 
try when  it  pleases  him  to  come  back  from  the 
Dutch  settlements,  whither  they  say  he  is  gone 
along  with  another  rascal,  and  a  French  woman  so 
depraved  that  she  is  said  to  have  given  or  sold 
two  of  her  children  to  the  Indians."  ^ 

When  the  governor.  La  Barre,  visited  Montreal, 
he  found  there  some  two  hundred  reprobates 
gambUng,  diinldng,  and  stealing.  If  hard  pressed 
by  justice,  they  had  only  to  cross  the  river  and 
place  themselves  beyond  the  seigniorial  jurisdic- 
tion.     The  mihtary  settlements  of   the  Richelieu 

*  Dollier  de  Casson,  Histoire  de  Montreal,  1671-7? 


374  MORALS  AND  MANNERS.  [1670-90. 

were  in  a  condition  somewhat  similar,  and  La  Bar  re 
complains  of  a  prevailing  spirit  of  disobedience  and 
lawlessness.^  The  most  orderly  and  thrifty  part 
of  Canada  appears  to  have  been  at  this  time  the 
cote  of  Beaupre,  belonging  to  the  seminary  of  Que- 
bec. Here  the  settlers  had  religious  instruction 
from  their  cures,  and  industrial  instruction  also  if 
the}^  wanted  it.  Domestic  spinning  and  weaving 
were  practised  at  Beaupre  sooner  than  in  any 
other  part  of  the  colony. 

When  it  is  remembered  that  a  population  which 
in  La  Barre's  time  did  not  exceed  ten  thousand, 
and  which  forty  years  later  did  not  much  exceed 
twice  that  number,  was  scattered  along  both  sides 
of  a  great  river  for  three  hundred  miles  or  more ; 
that  a  large  part  of  this  population  was  in  isolated 
groups  of  two,  three,  five,  ten,  or  twenty  houses 
at  the  edge  of  a  savage  wilderness ;  that  between 
them  there  was  little  communication  except  by 
canoes ;  that  the  settlers  were  disbanded  soldiers, 
or  others  whose  Hves  had  been  equally  adverse  to 
habits  of  reflection  or*  self-control ;  that  they  rarely 
saw  a  priest,  and  that  a  government  omnipotent  in 
name  had  not  arms  long  enough  to  reach  them,  — 
we  may  listen  without  surprise  to  the  lamentations 
of  order-loving  officials  over  the  unruly  condition 
of  a  great  part  of  the  colony.  One  accuses  the 
seigniors,  who,  he  says,  being  often  of  low  extrac- 
tion, cannot  keep  their  vassals  in  order.^  Another 
dwells  sorrowfully  on  the  "  terrible  dispersion  "  of 

*  La  Barre  an  Ministre,  4  Nov.,  1683. 

2  Catalogne,  M€moire  address€  au  Ministre,  1712 


1670-90.1  SOCIAL  DISORDER.  375 

the  settlements  where  the  inhabitants  "  live  in  a 
savage  independence."  But  it  is  better  that  each 
should  speak  for  himself,  and  among  the  rest  let 
us  hear  the  pious  Denonville. 

"  ThiSj  monseigneur,  seems  to  me  the  place  for 
rendering  you  an  account  of  the  disorders  which 
prevail  not  only  in  the  woods,  but  also  in  the  settle- 
ments. They  arise  from  the  idleness  of  young 
persons,  and  the  great  liberty  which  fathers, 
mothers,  and  guardians  have  for  a  long  time  given 
them,  or  allowed  them  to  assume,  of  going  into  the 
forest  under  pretence  of  hunting  or  trading.  This 
has  come  to  such  a  pass,  that,  from  the  moment  a 
boy  can  carry  a  gun,  the  father  cannot  restrain 
him  and  dares  not  offend  him.  You  can  judge  the 
mischief  that  follows.  These  disorders  are  always 
greatest  in  the  families  of  those  who  are  gentils- 
hommes,  or  who  through  laziness  or  vanity  pass 
themselves  off  as  such.  Having  no  resource  but 
hunting,  they  must  spend  their  lives  in  the  woods, 
where  they  have  no  cures  to  trouble  them,  and  no 
fathers  or  guardians  to  constrain  them.  I  think, 
monseigneur,  that  martial  law  would  suit  their 
case  better  than  any  judicial  sentence. 

"  Monsieur  de  la  Barre  suppressed  a  certain  order 
of  knighthood  which  had  sprung  up  here,  but  he 
did  not  abolish  the  usages  belonging  to  it.  It  was 
thought  a  fine  thing  and  a  good  joke  to  go  about 
naked  and  tricked  out  like  Indians,  not  only  on 
carnival  days,  but  on  all  other  days  of  feasting  and 
debauchery.  These  practices  tend  to  encourage 
the  disposition  of  our  young  men  to  live  like  sav- 


376  MORALS  AND  MANNERS.  [1670-90. 

ages,  frequent  their  company,  and  be  for  ever 
unruly  and  lawless  like  them.  I  cannot  tell  you, 
nionseigneur,  how  attractive  this  Indian  life  is  to 
all  our  3^outh.  It  consists  in  doing  nothing,  caring 
for  nothing,  following  every  inclination,  and  getting 
out  of  the  way  of  all  correction."  He  goes  on  to 
say  that  the  mission  villages  governed  by  the  Jes- 
uits and  Sulpitians  are  models  of  good  order,  and 
that  drunkards  are  never  seen  there  except  when 
they  come  from  the  neighboring  French  settle- 
ments ;  but  that  the  other  Indians  who  roam  at 
large  about  the  colony,  do  prodigious  mischief,  be- 
cause the  children  of  the  seigniors  not  only  copy 
their  way  of  life,  but  also  run  off  with  their  women 
into  the  woods.^ 

"  Nothing,"  he  continues,  "  can  be  finer  or  better 
conceived  than  the  regulations  framed  for  the 
government  of  this  country ;  but  nothing,  I  assure 
you,  is  so  ill  observed  as  regards  both  the  fur  trade 
and  the  general  discipline  of  the  colony.  One 
great  evil  is  the  infinite  number  of  drinking-shops, 
wdiich  makes  it  almost  unpossible  to  remedy  the 
disorders  resulting  from  them.  All  the  rascals 
and  idlers  of  the  country  are  attracted  into  this 
business  of  tavern-keeping.  They  never  dream  of 
tilling  the  soil ;  but,  on  the  contrary,  they  deter  the 
other  inhabitants  from   it,  and  end  with  ruining 

1  Raudot,  who  was  intendant  early  in  the  eighteenth  century,  is  a 
little  less  gloomy  in  his  coloring,  but  says  that  Canadian  children  were 
without  discipline  or  education,  had  no  respect  for  parents  or  cures,  and 
owned  no  superiors.  This,  he  thinks,  is  owing  to  "  la  folle  tendresse  des 
parents  qui  les  enipeche  de  les  corriger  et  de  leur  former  le  caractere 
qu'ils  ont  dur  et  fe'roce." 


I67a-90.]  SOCIAL  DISORDER.  377 

them.  I  know  seigniories  where  there  are  but 
twenty  houses,  and  more  than  half  of  them  dram 
shops.  At  Three  Rivers  there  are  twenty-five 
houses,  and  liquor  may  be  had  at  eighteen  or 
twenty  of  them.  Villemarie  {3Iontreal)  and  Que- 
bec are  on  the  same  footing." 

The  governor  next  dwells  on  the  necessity  ol 
finding  occupation  for  children  and  youths,  a  mat- 
ter which  he  regards  as  of  the  last  importance. 
"  It  is  sad  to  see  the  ignorance  of  the  population 
at  a  distance  from  the  abodes  of  the  cures,  who  are 
put  to  the  greatest  trouble  to  remedy  the  evil  by 
travelling  from  place  to  place  through  the  parishes 
in  their  charge."  ^ 

La  Barre,  Champigny,  and  Duchesneau  write  in 
a  similar  strain.  Bishop  Saint- Vallier,  in  an  epis- 
tolary journal  which  he  printed  of  a  tour  through 
the  colony  made  on  his  first  arrival,  gives  a  favor- 
able account  of  the  disposition  of  the  people,  espe- 
cially as  regards  religion.  He  afterwards  changed 
his  views.  An  abstract  made  from  his  letters  for 
the  use  of  the  king  states  that  he  "  represents,  like 
M.  Denonville,  that  the  Canadian  youth  are  for 
the  most  part  wholly  demoralized."^ 

"  The  bishop  was  very  sorry,"  says  a  corre- 
spondent of  the  minister  at  Quebec,  "  to  have  so 
much  exaggerated  in  the  letter  he  printed  at  Paris 
the  morality  of  the  people  here."  ^  He  preached 
a  sermon  on  the  sins  of  the  inhabitants  and  issued 
a  pastoral  mandate,  in  which  he  says,  "  Before  we 

1  Denonville  au  Ministre,  13  Nov.  1685. 

2  N.  Y.  Colonial  Documents,  IX.  278.  3  jbid.,  IX.  388. 


378  MORALS  AND   MANNERS.  11670-90. 

knew  our  flock  we  thought  that  the  Enghsh  and 
the  Iroquois  were  the  only  wolves  we  had  to  fear ; 
but  God  having  o]3ened  our  eyes  to  the  disorders 
of  this  diocese,  and  made  us  feel  more  than  evei 
the  weight  of  our  charge,  we  are  forced  to  confess 
that  our  most  dangerous  foes  are  drunkenness, 
luxury,  impurity,  and  slander."  ^ 
,/  ,  Drunkenness  was  at  this  time  the  most  destruc- 
tive vice  in  the  colony.  One  writer  declares  that 
most  of  the  Canadians  drink  so  much  brandy  in 
the  morning,  that  they  are  unfit  for  work  all  day.^ 
Another  says  that  a  canoe-man  when  he  is  tired 
will  Uft  a  keg  of  brandy  to  his  lips  and  drink  the 
raw  Hquor  from  the  bung-hole,  after  which,  having 
spoiled  his  appetite,  he  goes  to  bed  supperless; 
and  that,  what  with  drink  and  hardship,  he  is  an 
old  man  at  forty.  Nevertheless  the  race  did  not  de* 
teriorate.  The  prevalence  of  early  marriages,  and 
the  birth  of  numerous  offspring  before  the  vigor  of 
the  father  had  been  wasted,  ensured  the  strength  and 
hardihood  which  characterized  the  Canadians.  As 
Denonville  describes  them  so  they  long  remained. 
•■'  The  Canadians  are  tall,  well-made,  and  well  set 
on  their  legs  {Men plantes  sur  leurs  jamhes),  robust, 
vigorous,  and  accustomed  in  time  of  need  to  live 
on  little.  They  have  intelligence  and  vivacity, 
but  are  wayward,  light-minded,  and  inclined  to 
debauchery." 

As   the   population  increased,  as  the  rage  for 

1  Ordonnance  contre  les  vices  de  I'ivrognerie,  luxe,  et  impurel€,  81  Oct., 
1690. 

2  N   y.  Colonial  Documents,  IX.  398. 


1670-1716.1  IMPROVEMENT.  37^ 

bush-ranging  began  to  abate,  and,  above  all,  as  the 
cures  multiplied,  a  change  took  place  for  the 
better.  More  churches  were  built,  the  charge  of 
each  priest  was  reduced  within  reasonable  bounds, 
and  a  greater  proportion  of  the  inhabitants  re- 
mained on  their  farms.  They  were  better  watched, 
controlled,  and  taught,  by  the  church.  The  eccle- 
siastical power,  wherever  it  had  a  hold,  was  exer- 
cised, as  we  have  seen,  with  an  undue  rigor,  yet  it 
was  the  chief  guardian  of  good  morals;  and  the 
colony  grew  more  orderly  and  more  temperate  as 
the  church  gathered  more  and  more  of  its  wild 
and  wandering  flock  fairly  within  its  fold.  In 
this,  however,  its  success  was  but  relative.  It  is 
true  that  in  1715  a  well-informed  writer  says  that 
the  people  were  "  perfectly  instructed  in  religion ; "  ^ 
but  at  that  time  the  statement  was  only  partially 
true. 

During  the  seventeenth  century,  and  some  time 
after  its  close,  Canada  swarmed  with  beggars,  a 
singular  feature  in  a  new  country  where  a  good  farm 
could  be  had  for  the  asldng.  In  countries  intensely 
Roman  Catholic  begging  is  not  regarded  as  an  un- 
mixed evil,  being  supposed  to  promote  two  cardinal 
virtues,  —  charity  in  the  giver  and  humility  in  the 
receiver.  The  Canadian  officials  nevertheless  tried 
to  restrain  it.  Vagabonds  of  both  sexes  were 
ordered  to  leave  Quebec,  and  nobody  was  allowed 
to  beg  without  a  certificate  of  poverty  from  the 
cur^  or  the  local  judge.^     These  orders  were  not 

1  M€moire  address^  ati  Regent. 

2  R^glement  de  Police,  1676. 


380  MOEALS  AND  MANNERS.  [1670-1700. 

always  observed.  Bishop  Saint- Vallier  writes  that 
he  is  overwhehned  by  beggars/  and  the  intendant 
echoes  his  complaint.  Almshouses  were  estab- 
lished at  Montreal,  Three  Kivers,  and  Quebec ;  ^ 
and  w^hen  Saint-Vallier  founded  the  General  Hos- 
pital, its  chief  purpose  was  to  serve,  not  as  a  hos- 
pital in  the  ordinary  sense  of  the  word,  but  as  a 
house  of  refuge,  after  the  plan  of  the  General 
Hospital  of  Paris.^  Appeal,  as  usual,  was  made  to 
the  king.  Denonville  asks  his  aid  for  two  desti- 
tute famiUes,  and  says  that  many  others  need  it. 
Louis  XIV.  did  not  fail  to  respond,  and  from  time 
to  time  he  sent  considerable  sums  for  the  relief  of 
the  Canadian  poor.* 

Denonville  says,  "  The  principal  reason  of  the 
poverty  of  this  country  is  the  idleness  and  bad 
conduct  of  most  of  the  people.  The  greater  part  of 
the  women,  including  all  the  demoiselles,  are  very 
lazy."  ^  Meules  proposes  as  a  remedy  that  the  king 
should  establish  a  general  workshop  in  the  colony, 
and  pay  the  workmen  liimself  during  the  first  five 
or  six  years.^  "  The  persons  here,"  he  says,  "  who 
have  wished  to  make  a  figure  are  nearly  all  so 
overwhelmed  with  debt  that  they  may  be  con- 


1  N.  Y.  Colonial  Documents,  IX.  279. 

2  Edits  et  Ordonnunces,  II.  119. 

3  On  the  General  Hospital  of  Quebec,  see  Juchereau,  355.  In  1692, 
the  minister  writes  to  Frontenac  and  Champigny  that  they  should  con- 
sider ^611  whether  this  house  of  refuge  will  not  "  augmenter  la  faine'antise 
parmi  les  habitans,"  by  giving  them  a  sure  support  in  poverty. 

*  As  late  as  1701,  six  thousand  livres  were  granted  Callieret  on 
Ministre,  4  Nov.,  1701. 

5  Denonville  et  Champigny  au  Ministre,  6  Nov.,  16H'' 

6  Meules  au  Ministre,  12  Nov.,  1682. 


1670-1700.1  POVERTY.  38] 

sidered  as  in  the  last  necessity."  ^  He  adds  that 
many  of  the  people  go  half -naked  even  in  winter. 
"  The  merchants  of  this  country,"  says  the  intend- 
ant  Duchesneau,  "  are  all  plunged  in  poverty, 
except  five  or  six  at  the  most ;  it  is  the  same  with 
the  artisans,  except  a  small  number,  because  the 
vanity  of  the  women  and  the  debauchery  of  the  men 
consume  all  their  gains.  As  for  such  of  the  labor- 
ing class  as  apply  themselves  steadily  to  culti- 
vating the  soil,  they  not  only  live  very  well,  but 
are  incomparably  better  off  than  the  better  sort  of 
peasants  in  France."^ 

All  the  writers  lament  the  extravagant  habits  of 
the  people ;  and  even  La  Hontan  joins  hands  with 
the  priests  in  wishing  that  the  supply  of  ribbons, 
laces,  brocades,  jewelry,  and  the  like,  might  be  cut 
off  by  act  of  law.  Mother  Juchereau  tells  us  that, 
when  the  English  invasion  was  impending,  the  belles 
of  Canada  were  scared  for  a  while  into  modesty  in 
order  to  gain  the  favor  of  heaven ;  but,  as  may  be 
imagined,  the  effect  was  short,  and  Father  La  Tour 
declares  that  in  his  time  all  the  fashions  except 
rouge  came  over  regularly  in  the  annual  ships. 

The  manners  of  the  mission  period,  on  the  other 
hand,  were  extremely  simple.  The  old  governor, 
Lauzon,  lived  on  pease  and  bacon  like  a  laborer,  and 
kept  no  man-servant.  He  was  regarded,  it  is  true, 
as  a  miser,  and  held  in  slight  account.^  Magdeleine 
Boucher,  sister  of  the  governor  of  Three  Rivers, 

^  Meules,  M€moire  touckant  le  Canada  et  I'Acadie,  1684. 
*  Duchesneau  au  Ministre,  10  Nov.,  1679. 
'  M€moire  d'Aubert  de  la  Chesnaye,  1676 


382  MORALS  AND   MANNERS.  [1645-68. 

brought  her  husband  two  hundred  francs  in  money, 
four  sheets,  two  table-cloths,  six  napkins  of  linen 
and  hemp,  a  mattress,  a  blanket,  two  dishes,  six 
spoons  and  six  tin  plates,  a  pot  and  a  kettle,  a  table 
and  two  benches,  a  kneading-trough,  a  chest  with 
lock  and  key,  a  cow,  and  a  pair  of  hogs.-'  But  the 
Bouchers  were  a  family  of  distinction,  and  the 
bride's  dowry  answered  to  her  station.  By  another 
marriage  contract,  at  about  the  same  time,  the 
parents  of  the  bride,  being  of  humble  degree,  bind 
themselves  to  present  the  bridegroom  with  a  barrel 
of  bacon,  deliverable  on  the  arrival  of  the  ships 
from  France.^ 

Some  curious  traits  of  this  early  day  appear 
in  the  license  of  Jean  Boisdon  as  innkeeper.  He 
is  required  to  establish  himself  on  the  great  square 
of  Quebec,  close  to  the  church,  so  that  the  parish- 
ioners may  conveniently  warm  and  refresh  them- 
selves between  the  services;  but  he  is  forbidden 
to  entertain  anybody  during  high  mass,  sermon, 
catechism,  or  vespers.^  Matters  soon  changed; 
Jean  Boisdon  lost  his  monopoly,  and  inns  sprang 
up  on  all  hands.  They  did  not  want  for  patrons, 
and  we  find  some  of  their  proprietors  mentioned 
as  among  the  few  thriving  men  in  Canada.  Talon 
tried  to  regulate  them,  and,  among  other  rules, 
ordained  that  no  innkeeper  should  furnish  food  or 
drink  to  any  hh-ed  laborer  whatever,  or  to  any 

1  Contrat  de  marriage,  cited  by  Ferland,  Notes,  73. 

2  Contrat  de  marriage,  cited  hj  Benjamin  Siilte  in  Reme  Canadienne, 
IX.  111. 

8  Acte  offidelle,  1648,  cited  by  Ferland.  Cours  d'Histoire  du  Canada,  I. 
865. 


1672-1701.]  *  STATE   OF   QUEBEC.  383 

person  residing  in  the  place  where  his  inn  was 
situated.  An  innkeeper  of  Montreal  was  fined  for 
allowing  the  syndic  of  the  town  to  dine  under  his 
roof.^ 

One  gets  glimpses  of  the  pristine  state  of  Quebec 
through  the  early  police  regulations.  Each  in- 
habitant was  required  to  make  a  gutter  along  the 
middle  of  the  street  before  his  house,  and  also  to 
remove  refuse  and  throw  it  into  the  river.  All 
dogs,  without  exception,  were  ordered  home  at 
nine  o'clock.  On  Tuesdays  and  Fridays  there  was 
a  market  in  the  public  square,  whither  the  neigh- 
boring habitants,  male  and  female,  brought  their 
produce  for  sale,  as  they  still  continue  to  do. 
Smoking  in  the  street  was  forbidden,  as  a  pre- 
caution against  fire ;  householders  were  required 
to  provide  themselves  with  ladders,  and  when 
the  fire  alarm  was  rung  all  able-bodied  per- 
sons were  obliged  to  run  to  the  scene  of  danger 
with  buckets  or  kettles  full  of  water.^  This  did 
not  prevent  the  Lower  Town  from  burning  to  the 
ground  in  1682.  It  was  soon  rebuilt,  but  a  repeti- 
tion of  the  catastrophe  seemed  very  likely.  "  This 
place,"  says  Denonville,  "  is  in  a  fearful  state  as 
regards  fire ;  for  the  houses  are  crowded  together  out 
of  all  reason,  and  so  surrounded  with  piles  of  cord- 
wood  that  it  is  pitiful  to  see."^  Add  to  this  the 
stores  of  hay  for  the  cows  kept  by  many  of  the 
inhabitants  for  the  benefit  of  their  swarming  prog- 

J  Faillon,  Colonie  FrniK^nise,  III.  405. 
2  R€(jlement  de  Police,  1672.     Ihid.,  1676. 
'  Denonville  au  Blinistre,  20  Aout,  1686 


384  MORALS  AND   MANNERS.  [1672-1701. 

eny.     The  houses  were  at  this  thne  low,  compact 
buildings,  with  gables  of  masonry,  as  required  by 
law;  but  many  had  wooden  fronts,  and  all  had 
roofs  covered  with  cedar  shingles.     The  anxious 
governor  begs  that,  as  the  town  has  not  a  soic  of 
revenue,  his  Majesty  will  be  pleased  to  make  it  the 
gift  of  two  hundred  crowns'  worth  of  leather  fire- 
buckets.^     Six  or  seven  years  after,  certain  citizens 
were  authorized  by  the  council  to   import   from 
France,   at   their   o^vn  cost,  "  a  pump   after  the 
Dutch  fashion,  for  throwing  water  on  houses  in 
case  of  fire."^  How  a  fire  was  managed  at  Quebec 
appears  from  a  letter  of  the  engineer,  Vasseur, 
describing  the  burning  of  Laval's  seminary  in  1701. 
Vasseur  was  then  at  Quebec,  directing  the  new 
fortifications.     On  a  Monday  in  November,  all  tho 
pupils  of  the  seminary   and   most  of  the  priests 
went,  according  to  their  weeldy  custom,  to  rec- 
reate themselves  at  a   house  and   garden  at   St. 
JMichel,   a   short   distance   from   town.     The   few 
priests   who   remained  went  after  dinner  to  say 
vespers  at  the  church.     Only  one.  Father  Petit, 
was  left  in  the  seminary,  and  he  presently  repaired 
to  the  great  hall  to  rekindle  the  fire  in  the  stove 
and   warm  the  place  against  the   return   of    his 
brethren.     His  success  surpassed   his  wishes.     A 
firebrand  snapped  out  in  his  absence  and  set  the 
pine  floor  in  a  blaze.     Father  Boucher,  cure  of 
Point   Levi,   chanced   to   come   in,   and  was  half 
choked  by  the  smoke.   He  cried ^re  f  the  servants 

1  Denonville  au  Ministre,  20  Ao-Cd,  1685. 

2  R^glement  de.  1691,  extract  in  Ferland. 


1701.]  BURNING   OF   THE   SEMINARY.  385 

ran  for  water ;  but  the  flames  soon  mastered  them ; 
they  screamed  the  alarm,  and  the  bells  began  to 
rmg.  A^asseur  was  dining  with  the  intendant  at 
his  palace  by  the  St.  Charles,  when  he  heard  a 
frightened  voice  crying  out,  "  Monsieur,  you  are 
wanted ;  you  are  wanted."  He  sprang  from  table, 
saw  the  smoke  rolling  in  volumes  from  the  top  of 
the  rock,  ran  up  the  steep  ascent,  reached  the 
seminary,  and  found  an  excited  crowd  making  a 
prodigious  outcry.  He  shouted  for  carpenters. 
Four  men  came  to  him,  and  he  set  them  at  work 
with  such  tools  as  they  had  to  tear  away  planks 
and  beams,  and  prevent  the  fire  from  spreading  to 
the  adjacent  parts  of  the  building ;  but,  when  he 
went  to  find  others  to  help  them,  they  ran  off. 
He  set  new  men  in  their  place,  and  these  too  ran 
off  the  moment  his  back  was  turned.  A  cry  was 
raised  that  the  building,  was  to  be  blown  up,  on 
wliicli  the  crowd  scattered  for  their  lives.  Vasseur 
now  gave  up  the  seminary  for  lost,  and  thought 
only  of  cutting  off  the  fire  from  the  rear  of  the 
church,  which  w\as  not  far  distant.  In  this  he  suc- 
ceeded, by  tearing  down  an  intervening  wing  or 
gallery.  The  walls  of  the  burning  building  were 
of  massive  stone,  and  by  seven  o'clock  the  fire  had 
spent  itself.  We  hear  nothing  of  the  Dutch 
pump,  nor  does  it  appear  that  the  soldiers  of  the 
garrison  made  any  effort  to  keep  order.  Under 
cover  of  the  confusion,  property  was  stolen  from 
the  seminar}^  to  the  amount  of  about  two  thousand 
livres,  which  is  remarkable,  considering  the  relig- 
ious character  of  the  building,  and   the  supposed 

26 


386  MORALS   AND   MANNERS.  [170U-b3. 

piety  of  tlie  people.  "  There  were  more  than 
three  hundred  j)ersons  at  the  fire,"  says  Yasseur; 
"but  thirty  picked  men  would  have  been  worth 
more  than  the  whole  of  them."  ^ 

August,  September,  and  October  were  the  busy 
months  at  Quebec.  Then  the  ships  from  France 
discharged  their  lading,  the  shops  and  warehouses 
of  the  Lower  Town  were  filled  with  goods,  and  the 
habitants  came  to  town  to  make  their  purchases. 
When  the  frosts  began,  the  vessels  sailed  away,  the 
harbor  was  deserted,  the  streets  were  silent  again, 
and  like  ants  or  squirrels  the  people  set  at  work 
to  lay  in  their  winter  stores.  Fathers  of  families 
packed  their  cellars  with  beets,  carrots,  potatoes, 
and  cabbages ;  and,  at  the  end  of  autumn,  with 
meat,  fowls,  game,  fish,  and  eels,  all  frozen  to 
stony  hardness.  Most  of  the  shops  closed,  and 
the  long  season  of  leisure  and  amusement  began. 
New  Year's  day  brought  visits  and  mutual  gifts. 
Thence  till  Lent  dinner  parties  were  frequent, 
sometimes  familiar  and  sometimes  ceremonious. 
The  governor's  little  court  at  the  chateau  was  a 
standing  example  to  all  the  aspiring  spirits  of 
Quebec,  and  forms  and  orders  of  precedence  were 
in  some  houses  punctiliously  observed.  There 
were  dinners  to  the  military  and  civic  dignitaries 
and  their  wives,  and  others,  quite  distinct,  to 
prominent  citizens.  The  wives  and  daughters  of 
the  burghers  of  Quebec  are  said  to  have  been 
superior  in  manners  to  women  of  the  corresponding 

1  Vasseur  an  Minlstre,  24  Nov.,  1701.  Like  Denonville  before  him,  be 
iirges  the  need  of  fire-buckets. 


1700-631  THE   COUNTRY  PARISHES.  387 

class  ill  France.  "  They  have  wit/'  says  La  Pothe- 
vie,  "  delicacy,  good  voices,  and  a  great  fondness 
for  dancing.  They  are  discreet,  and  not  much 
given  lo  flirting ;  but  when  they  undertake  to 
catcli  a  lover  it  is  not  easy  for  him  to  escape  the 
bands  of  Hymen."  ^ 

So  much  for  the  town.  In  the  country  parishes, 
there  was  the  same  autumnal  stowing  away  of 
frozen  vegetables,  meat,  fish,  and  eels,  and  un- 
fortunately the  same  surfeit  of  leisure  through 
five  months  of  the  year.  During  the  seventeenth 
century,  many  of  the  people  w^ere  so  poor  that 
women  were  forced  to  keep  at  home  from  sheer 
want  of  winter  clothing.  Nothing,  however,  could 
prevent  their  running  from  house  to  house  to  ex- 
change gossip  with  the  neighbors,  who  all  knew 
each  other,  and,  having  nothing  else  to  do,  dis- 
cussed each  other's  affairs  with  an  industry  which 
often  bred  bitter  quarrels.  At  a  later  period,  a 
more  general  introduction  of  family  weaving  and 
spinning  served  at  once  to  furnish  clothing  and  to 
promote  domestic  peace. 

The  most  important  persons  in  a  parish  were  the) 
cure,  the  seignior,  and  the  militia  captain.  Tlie 
seignior  had  his  bench  of  honor  in  the  church 
Immediately  behind  it  was  the  bench  of  the  militia 
captain,  whose  duty  it  was  to  drill  the  able-bodied 
men  of  the  neighborhood,  direct  road-making  and 
other  public  works,  and  serve  as  deputy  to  the 
intendant,  whose  ordinances  he  was  required  to 
enforce.  Next  in  honor  came  the  local  judge  ' 
any  there  was,  and  the  church-wardens. 

»  La  Totlierie.  I.  279. 


388  MORALS   AND   MANNERS.  11685-1763. 

P~  The  existence  of  slavery  in  Canada  dates  from 
[  the  end  of  the  seventeenth  century.  In  1688,  the 
attorney-general  made  a  visit  to  Paris,  and  urged 
upon  the  king  the  expediency  of  importing  negroes 
from  the  West  Indies  as  a  remedy  for  the  scarcity 
and  dearness  of  labor.  The  king  consented,  but 
advised  caution,  on  the  ground  that  the  rigor  of 
the  climate  would  make  the  venture  a  critical  one.' 
A  number  of  slaves  were  brought  into  the  colony  ; 
but  the  system  never  flourished,  the  climate  and 
other  circumstances  being  hostile  to  it.  Many  of 
the  colonists,  especially  at  Detroit  and  other  outly- 
ing posts,  owned  slaves  of  a  remote  Indian  tribe, 
the  Pawnees.  The  fact  is  remarkable,  since  it 
would  be  difficult  to  find  another  of  the  wUd  tribes 
of  the  continent  capable  of  subjection  to  domestic 
servitude.  The  Pawnee  slaves  were  captives  taken 
in  war  and  sold  at  low  prices  to  the  Canadians. 
Their  market  value  was  much  impaired  by  their 
propensity  to  run  off. 

It  is  curious  to  observe  the  views  of  the  Cana- 
dians taken  at  different  times  by  different  writers. 
La  Hontan  says,  "  They  are  vigorous,  enterprising, 
and  indefatigable,  and  need  nothing  but  education. 
They  are  presumptuous  and  full  of  self-conceit, 
regard  themselves  as  above  all  the  nations  of  the 
earth,  and,  unfortunately,  have  not  the  veneration 
for  their  parents  that  they  ought  to  have.  The 
women  are  generally  pretty;    few  of    them   are 

•  Instruction  au  Sr.  de  Frontenac,  1689.  On  Canadian  slavery,  see  a 
long  paper,  I'Esdavage  en  Canada,  published  by  the  Historical  Society 
of  MDntreal. 


1736.]  CANADIAN  LIFE.  389 

brunettes ;  many  of  them  are  discreet,  And  a  good 
number  are  lazy.  They  are  fond  to  the  last  degree 
of  dress  and  show,  and  each  tries  to  outdo  the  rest 
in  the  art  of  catching  a  husband."^ 

Fifty  years  later,  the  intendant  Hocquart  writes, 
"  The  Canadians  are  fond  of  distinctions  and  at- 
tentions, plume  themselves  on  their  courage,  and 
are  extremely  sensitive  to  slights  or  the  smallest 
corrections.  They  are  seK-interested,  vindictive, 
prone  to  drunkenness,  use  a  great  deal  of  brandy, 
and  pass  for  not  being  at  all  truthful.  This  por- 
trait is  true  of  many  of  them,  particularly  the 
country  people  :  those  of  the  towns  are  less  vicious. 
They  are  all  attached  to  religion,  and  criminals  are 
rare.  They  are  volatile,  and  think  too  well  of 
themselves,  which  prevents  their  succeeding  as 
they  might  in  farming  and  trade.  They  have  not 
the  rude  and  rustic  air  of  our  French  peasants. 
If  they  are  put  on  their  honor  and  governed  with 
justice,  they  are  tractable  enough ;  but  their  natural 
disposition  is  indocile."^ 

The  navigator  Bougainville,  in  the  last  years  of 
the  French  rule,  describes  the  Canadian  habitant 
as  essentially  superior  to  the  French  peasant,  and 
adds,  "  He  is  loud,  boastful,  mendacious,  obliging, 
civil,  and  honest ;  indefatigable  in  hunting,  travel- 
ling, and  bush-ranging,  but  lazy  in  tilling  the 
soil."  3 

The  Swedish  botanist,  Kalm,  an  excellent  ob- 
server, was  in  Canada  a  few  years  before  Bougain- 

1  La  Hontan,  II.  81  (ed.  1709).  2  M€moire  de  1736. 

'  M€:noire  de  1757,  printed  in  Margry,  Relations  In€dites. 


IVJO  MORALS  AND   MANNERS.  [1749 

ville,  and  sketches  from  life  the  following  traits  of 
Canadian  manners.  The  language  is  that  of  the 
old  English  translation.  "  The  men  here  {at  Mon- 
treal) are  extremely  civil,  and  take  their  hats  off 
to  every  person  indifferently  whom  they  meet  in 
the  streets.  The  women  in  general  are  handsome ; 
thoy  are  well  bred  and  virtuous,  with  an  innocent 
and  becoming  freedom.  They  dress  out  very  fine 
on  Sundays,  and  though  on  the  other  days  they  do 
not  take  much  pains  with  the  other  parts  of  their 
dress,  yet  they  are  very  fond  of  adorning  their 
heads,  the  hair  of  which  is  always  curled  and 
powdered  and  ornamented  with  glittering  bodkins 
and  aigrettes.  They  are  not  averse  to  taking  part 
in  all  the  business  of  housekeeping,  and  I  have 
with  pleasure  seen  the  daughters  of  the  better 
sort  of  people,  and  of  the  governor  [of  Montreal) 
himself,  not  too  finely  dressed,  and  going  into 
kitchens  and  cellars  to  look  that  every  thing  be 
done  as  it  ought.  What  I  have  mentioned  above 
of  their  dressing  their  heads  too  assiduously  is  the 
case  with  all  the  ladies  throughout  Canada.  Their 
hair  is  always  curled  even  when  they  are  at  home 
in  a  dirty  jacket,  and  short  coarse  petticoat  that 
does  not  reach  to  the  middle  of  their  legs.  On  those 
days  when  they  pay  or  receive  visits  they  dress  so 
gayly  that  one  is  almost  induced  to  think  their 
parents  possess  the  greatest  honors  in  the  state. 
They  are  no  less  attentive  to  have  the  newest 
fashions,  and  they  laugh  at  each  other  when  they 
are  not  dressed  to  each  other's  fancy.  One  of  the 
first   questions   i\\Qj   propose    to   a    stranger    is, 


n49.J  CANADIAN  LIFE.  391 

whether  he  is  married ;  the  next,  how  he  likes  the 
ladies  of  the  country,  and  whether  he  thinks  them 
handsomer  than  those  of  his  own  country ;  and  the 
third,  whether  he  will  take  one  home  with  him. 
The  behavior  of  the  ladies  seemed  to  me  somewhat 
too  free  at  Quebec,  and  of  a  more  becoming  mod- 
esty at  Montreal.  Those  of  Quebec  are  not  very 
industrious.  The  young  ladies,  especially  those  of 
a  higher  rank,  get  up  at  seven  and  dress  till  nine, 
drinking  their  coffee  at  the  same  time.  When 
they  are  dressed,  they  place  themselves  near  a 
window  that  opens  into  the  street,  take  up  some 
needlework  and  sew  a  stitch  now  and  then,  but 
turn  their  eyes  into  the  street  most  of  the  time. 
When  a  young  fellow  comes  in,  whether  they  are 
acquainted  with  him  or  not,  they  immediately  lay 
aside  their  work,  sit  down  by  him,  and  begin  to 
chat,  laugh,  joke,  and  invent  dovhle-entendres,  and 
this  is  reckoned  being  very  witty.  In  this  manner 
they  frequently  pass  the  whole  day,  leaving  their 
mothers  to  do  the  business  of  the  house.  Thev 
are  likewise  cheerful  and  content,  and  nobody  can 
say  that  they  want  either  wdt  or  charms.  Their 
fault  is  that  they  think  too  well  of  themselves. 
However,  the  daughters  of  people  of  all  ranks 
without  exception  go  to  market  and  carry  home 
what  they  have  bought.  The  girls  at  Montreal 
are  very  much  displeased  that  those  at  Quebec  get 
husbands  sooner  than  they.  The  reason  of  this  is 
that  many  young  gentlemen  who  come  over  from 
France  with  the  ships  are  captivated  by  the 
ladies  at  Quebec  and  marry  them;  but,  as  these 


392  MORALS   AND   MANNERS.  [1720. 

gentlemen  seldom  go  up  to  Montreal,  the  girls  there 
are  not  often  so  happj"  as  those  of  the  former 
place.'" ' 

Long  before  Kalm's  visit,  the  Jesuit  Charlevoix, 
a  traveller  and  a  man  of  the  world,  wrote  thus  of 
Quebec  in  a  letter  to  the  Duchesse  de  Lesdiguieres  : 
•'  There  is  a  select  httle  society  here  which  wants 
nothing  to  make  it  agreeable.  In  the  salons  of  the 
wives  of  the  governor  and  of  the  intendant,  one 
finds  circles  as  brilliant  as  in  other  countries." 
These  circles  were  formed  partly  of  the  principal 
inhabitants,  but  chiefly  of  military  officers  and 
government  officials,  with  their  families.  Charle- 
voix continues,  "  Everybody  does  his  part  to  make 
the  time  pass  pleasantly,  with  games  and  parties  of 
pleasure ;  drives  and  canoe  excursions  in  summer, 
sleighing  and  skating  in  winter.  There  is  a  great 
deal  of  hunting  and  shooting,  for  many  Canadian 
gentlemen  are  almost  destitute  of  any  other  means 
of  living  at  their  ease.  The  news  of  the  day 
amounts  to  very  little  indeed,  as  the  country  fur- 
nishes scarcely  any,  while  that  from  Europe  comes 
all  at  once.  Science  and  the  fine  arts  have  their 
turn,  and  conversation  does  not  fail.  The  Cana- 
dians breathe  from  their  birth  an  air  of  liberty, 
which  makes  them  very  pleasant  in  the  intercourse 
of  life,  and  our  language  is  nowhere  more  purely 
spoken.  One  finds  here  no  rich  persons  whatever, 
and  this  is  a  great  pity ;  for  the  Canadians  like  to 
get  the  credit  of  their  money,  and  scarcely  any- 

1  Kalm,  Travels  into  North  America,  translated  into  English  by  John 
Eeinold  Forster  (London,  1771),  66,  282,  etc. 


1720.]  CANADIAN  LIFE.  393 

body  amuses  himself  with  hoarding  it.  They  say  it 
is  very  different  with  our  neighbors  the  Enghsh, 
and  one  wdio  knew  the  two  colonies  only  by  the 
way  of  living,  acting,  and  speaking  of  the  colonists 
would  not  hesitate  to  judge  ours  the  more  flourish- 
ing. In  New  England  and  the  other  British  colo- 
nies, tliere  reigns  an  opulence  by  which  the  people 
seem  not  to  know  how  to  profit;  while  in  New 
France  poverty  is  hidden  under  an  air  of  ease 
which  appears  entirely  natural.  The  English  colo- 
nist keeps  as  much  and  spends  as  little  as  possible : 
the  French  colonist  enjoys  what  he  has  got,  and 
often  makes  a  display  of  what  he  has  not  got. 
The  one  labors  for  his  heirs :  the  other  leaves  them 
to  get  on  as  they  can,  like  himself.  I  could  push 
the  comparison  farther ;  but  I  must  close  here  :  the 
king's  ship  is  about  to  sail,  and  the  merchant 
vessels  are  getting  ready  to  follow.  In  three  days 
perhaps,  not  one  will  be  left  in  the  harbor."  * 

And  now  we,  too,  will  leave  Canada.  Winter 
draws  near,  and  the  first  patch  of  snow  lies  gleam- 
ing on  the  distant  mountain  of  Cape  Tourmente. 
The  sun  has  set  in  chill  autumnal  beauty,  and  the 
sharp  spires  of  fir-trees  on  the  heights  of  Sillery 
stand  stiff  and  black  against  the  pure  cold  amber  of 
the  fading  west.  The  ship  sails  in  the  morning ; 
and,  before  the  old  towers  of  Rochelle  rise  in  sight, 
there  will  be  time  to  smoke  many  a  pipe,  and  pon- 
der what  we  have  seen  on  the  banks  of  the  Si 
Tjawrence. 

•  Charlevoix.  Journal  Eistorique  80  (ed.  1744). 


CHAPTER    XXI. 

1663-1763. 

CANADIAN  ABSOLUTISM. 

Formation  of  Canadian  Character.  —  The  Rival  Colonies.  — 
England  and  France.  —  New  England.  —  Characteristics  of 
Race.  —  Military  Qualities.  —  The  Church.  —  The  English 
Conquest. 

Not  institutions  alone,  but  geograjohical  position, 
climate,  and  many  other  conditions  unite  to  form 
the  educational  influences  that,  acting  through 
successive  generations,  shape  the  character  of  na- 
tions and  communities. 

It  is  easy  to  see  the  nature  of  the  education, 
past  and  present,  which  wrought  on  the  Canadians 
and  made  them  what  they  were.  An  ignorant 
population,  sprung  from  a  brave  and  active  race, 
but  trained  to  subjection  and  dependence  through 
centuries  of  feudal  and  monarchical  despotism,  was 
planted  in  the  wilderness  by  the  hand  of  authority, 
and  told  to  grow  and  flourish.  Artificial  stimulants 
were  applied,  but  freedom  was  withheld.  Per- 
petual intervention  of  government,  regulations, 
restrictions,  encouragements  sometimes  more  mis- 
chievous than  restrictions,  a  constant  uncertainty 
what  the  authorities  would  do  next,  the  fate  of 


1663-1763.]  ENGLISH  COLONIZATION.  395 

each  man  resting  less  with  himself  than  with 
another,  volition  enfeebled,  seK-reliance  paralyzed, 
—  the  condition,  in  short,  of  a  child  held  always 
under  the  rule  of  a  father,  in  the  main  well- 
meaning  and  kind,  sometimes  generous,  some- 
times neglectfLil,  often  capricious,  and  rarely 
very  wise,  —  such  were  the  influences  under  which 
Canada  grew  up.  If  she  had  prospered,  it  would 
have  been  sheer  miracle.  A  man,  to  be  a  man, 
must  feel  that  he  holds  his  fate,  in  some  good  meas- 
ure, in  his  own  hands. 

But  this  was  not  all.  Against  absolute  authority 
there  was  a  counter  influence,  rudely  and  wildly 
antagonistic.  Canada  was  at  the  very  portal  of 
the  great  interior  wilderness.  The  St.  Lawrence 
and  the  Lakes  were  the  highway  to  that  domain 
of  savage  freedom ;  and  thither  the  disfranchised, 
half-starved  seignior,  and  the  discouraged  habitant 
who  could  find  no  market  for  his  produce,  naturally 
enough  betook  themselves.  Their  lesson  of  sav- 
agery was  well  learned,  and  for  many  a  year  a 
boundless  license  and  a  stiff-handed  authority  bat- 
tled for  the  control  of  Canada.  Nor,  to  the  last, 
w(ire  church  and  state  fairly  masters  of  the  field. 
The  French  rule  was  drawing  towards  its  close 
when  the  intendant  complained  that  though  twenty- 
eight  companies  of  regular  troops  were  quartered 
in  the  colony,  there  were  not  soldiers  enough  to 
keep  the  people  in  order.^  One  cannot  but  re- 
member that  in  a  neighboring  colony,  far  more 
populous,  perfect  order  prevailed,  with  no  other 

1  Mifmoiie  de  1736  (printed  by  the  Historical  Society  of  Quebec). 


396  CANADIAN  ABSOLUTISM.  [1663-1763 

guardians  than  a  few  constables  chosen  by  the 
people    themselves. 

Whence  arose  this  difference,  and  other  differ- 
ences equally  striking,  between  the  rival  colonies  ? 
It  is  easy  to  ascribe  them  to  a  difference  of  politi- 
cal and  religious  institutions ;  but  the  explanation 
does  not  cover  the  ground.  The  institutions  of 
New  England  were  utterly  inapplicable  to  the 
population  of  New  France,  and  the  attempt  to 
apply  them  would  have  wrought  nothing  but  mis- 
chief. There  are  no  political  panaceas,  except  in 
the  imagination  of  political  quacks.  To  each  degree 
and  each  variety  of  pubhc  development  there  are 
corresponding  institutions,  best  answering  the  pub- 
lic needs;  and  what  is  meat  to  one  is  poison  to 
another.  Freedom  is  for  those  who  are  fit  for  it. 
The  rest  will  lose  it,  or  turn  it  to  corruption. 
Church  and  state  were  right  in  exercising  authority 
over  a  people  which  had  not  learned  the  first  rudi- 
m^ents  of  self-government.  Their  fault  was  not 
that  they  exercised  authority,  but  that  they  exer- 
cised too  much  of  it,  and,  instead  of  Aveaning  the 
child  to  go  alone,  kept  him  in  perpetual  leading- 
strings,  making  liim,  if  possible,  more  and  more 
dependent,  and  less  and  less  fit  for  freedom. 

In  the  building  up  of  colonies,  England  suc- 
ceeded and  France  failed.  The  cause  lies  chiefly 
in  the  vast  advantage  drawn  by  England  from  the 
historical  training  of  her  people  in  habits  of  re- 
Qection,  forecast,  industry,  and  self-reliance,  —  a 
training  which  enabled  them  to  adopt  and  maintain 
an  invigorating  system  of  self-rule,  totally  inap- 
plicable to  their  rivals. 


1663-1703.]  CHARACTERISTICS   OF   RACE.  397 

The  New  England  colonists  were  far  less  fugi- 
tives from  oppression  than  voluntary  exiles  seek- 
ing the  realization  of  an  idea.  They  were  neither 
peasants  nor  soldiers,  but  a  substantial  Puritan 
3'eomanry,  led  by  Puritan  gentlemen  and  divines  in 
thorough  sympathy  with  them.  They  were  neither 
sent  out  by  the  king,  governed  by  him,  nor  helped 
by  him.  They  grew  up  in  utter  neglect,  and  con- 
tinued neglect  was  the  only  boon  they  asked.  Till 
their  increasing  strength  roused  the  jealousy  of 
the  Crown,  they  were  virtually  independent;  a 
republic,  but  by  no  means  a  democracy.  They 
chose  their  governor  and  all  their  rulers  from 
among  themselves,  made  their  own  government 
and  paid  for  it,  supported  their  own  clergy,  de- 
fended themselves,  and  educated  themselves.  Un- 
der the  hard  and  repellent  surface  of  New  England 
society  lay  the  true  foundations  of  a  stable  free-/ 
dom,  —  conscience,  reflection,  faith,  patience,  anq 
public  spirit.  The  cement  of  common  interests, 
hopes,  and  duties  compacted  the  whole  people  like 
a  rock  of  conglomerate  ;  while  the  people  of  New 
France  remained  in  a  state  of  political  segrega- 
tion, like  a  basket  of  pebbles  held  togethf^i  by  the 
enclosure  that  surrounds  them. 

It  may  be  that  the  difference  of  historical  ante- 
cedents would  alone  explain  the  difference  of  char- 
acter between  the  rival  colonies;  but  there  are 
deeper  causes,  the  influence  of  which  went  far  to 
determine  the  antecedents  themselves.  The  Ger- 
manic race,  and  especially  the  Anglo-Saxon  branch 
of  it,  is  peculiarly  masculine,  and,  therefore,  pe- 


398  CANADIAN  ABSOLUTISM.  [1663-1763 

culiarly  fitted  for  self-government.  It  submits  its 
action  habitually  to  the  guidance  of  reason,  and 
has  the  judicial  faculty  of  seeing  both  sides  of  a 
question.  The  French  Celt  is  cast  in  a  different 
mould.  He  sees  the  end  distinctly,  and  reasons 
about  it  with  an  admirable  clearness ;  but  his  own 
impulses  and  passions  continually  turn  him  away 
from  it.  Opposition  excites  him  ;  he  is  impatient 
of  dela}^,  is  impelled  always  to  extremes,  and  does 
not  rea  -ily  sacrifice  a  present  inclination  to  an  ulti- 
mate good.  He  delights  in  abstractions  and  gen- 
eralizations, cuts  loose  from  unpleasing  facts,  and 
roams  through  an  ocean  of  desires  and  theories, 
-^  While  New  England  prospered  and  Canada  did 
not  prosper,  the  French  system  had  at  least  one 
great  advantage.  It  favored  military  efficiency. 
The  Canadian  population  sprang  in  great  part  from 
soldiers,  and  was  to  the  last  systematically  rein- 
forced by  disbanded  soldiers.  Its  chief  occupation 
was  a  continual  training  for  forest  war;  it  had 
little  or  nothing  to  lose,  and  httle  to  do  but  fight 
and  range  the  woods.  Tliis  was  not  all.  The 
Canadian  government  was  essentially  military.  At 
its  head  was  a  soldier  nobleman,  often  an  old  and 
able  commander,  and  those  beneath  him  caught  his 
spirit  and  emulated  his  example.  In  spite  of  its 
political  nothingness,  in  spite  of  poverty  and  hard- 
ship, and  in  spite  even  of  trade,  the  upper  stratum 
of  Canadian  society  was  animated  by  the  pride 
and  fire  of  that  gallant  noblesse  which  held  war  as 
its  only  worthy  calling,  and  prized  honor  more 
than  life.     As  for  the  hahitant,  the  forest,  lake, 


1663-1763.J  MILITARY   QUALITIES.  399 

and  river  were  his  true  school ;  and  here,  at  least, 
he  was  an  apt  scholar.  A  skiHul  woodsman,  a  bold 
and  adroit  canoe-man,  a  willing  fighter  in  time  of 
need,  often  serving  without  pay,  and  receiving  from 
government  onl}^  his  provisions  and  his  canoe,  lie 
was  more  than  ready  at  any  time  for  any  hardy 
enterprise ;  and  in  the  forest  warfare  of  skirmish 
and  surprise  there  were  few  to  match  him.  An 
absolute  government  used  him  at  will,  and  ex- 
perienced leaders  guided  his  rugged  valor  to  tlie 
best  account. 

The  New  England  man  was  precisely  the  same 
material  with  that  of  which  Cromwell  formed  his 
invincible  "  Ironsides ; "  but  he  had  very  little 
forest  experience.  His  geographical  position  cut 
him  off  completely  from  the  great  wilderness  of 
the  interior.  The  sea  was  his  field  of  action. 
Without  the  aid  of  government,  and  in  spite  of  its 
restrictions,  he  built  up  a  prosperous  commerce, 
and  enriched  himself  by  distant  fisheries,  neglected 
by  the  rivals  before  whose  doors  they  lay.  He 
knew  every  ocean  from  Greenland  to  Cape  Horn, 
and  the  whales  of  the  north  and  of  the  south  had 
no  more  dangerous  foe.  But  he  was  too  busy  to 
fight  without  good  cause,  and  when  he  turned  his 
hand  to  soldiering  it  was  only  to  meet  some  press- 
ing need  of  the  hour.  The  New  England  troops  in 
the  early  wars  were  bands  of  raw  fishermen  and 
farmers,  led  by  civilians  decorated  with  military 
titles,  and  subject  to  the  slow  and  uncertain  action 
of  legislative  bodies.  The  officers  had  not  learned 
to  command,  nor  the  men  to  obey.     The  remark- 


400  CANADIAN  ABSOLUTISM,  [16G3-17G3. 

able  exploit  of  the  capture  of  Louisburg,  the 
strongest  fortress  in  America,  was  the  result  of 
mere  audacity  and  hardihood,  backed  by  the 
rarest   good    luck. 

One  great  fact  stands  out  conspicuous  in  Cana- 
dian history,  —  the  Church  of  Rome.  More  even 
than  the  royal  power  she  shaped  the  character  and 
the  destinies  of  the  colony.  She  was  its  nurse  and 
almost  its  mother ;  and,  wayward  and  headstrong 
as  it  was,  it  never  broke  the  ties  of  faith  that  held 
it  to  her.  It  was  these  ties  which,  in  the  absence 
of  political  franchises,  formed  under  the  old  regime 
the  only  vital  coherence  in  the  population.  The 
royal  government  was  transient ;  the  church  was 
permanent.  The  English  conquest  shattered  the 
whole  apparatus  of  civil  administration  at  a  blow, 
but  it  left  her  untouched.  Governors,  intendants, 
councils,  and  commandants,  all  were  gone ;  the 
principal  seigniors  fled  the  colony;  and  a  people 
who  had  never  learned  to  control  themselves  or 
helj)  themselves  were  suddenly  left  to  their  own 
devices.  Confusion,  if  not  anarchy,  would  have 
followed  but  for  the  parish  priests,  who  in  a  char- 
acter of  double  paternity,  half  spiritual  and  half 
temporal,  became  more  than  ever  the  guardians  of 
order  throughout  Canada. 

This  English  conquest  was  the  grand  crisis  of 
Canadian  history.  It  was  the  beginning  of  a  new 
life.  With  England  came  Protestantism,  and  the 
Canadian  church  grew  purer  and  better  in  the 
presence  of  an  adverse  faith.  Material  growth,  an 
increased  mental  activity,  an  education  real  though 


1663-1763.]  THE  ENGLISH  CONQUEST.  401 

fenced  and  guarded,  a  warm  and  genuine  patriot- 
ism, all  date  from  the  peace  of  1763.  England 
imposed  by  the  sword  on  reluctant  Canada  the 
boon  of  rational  and  ordered  liberty.  Through 
centuries  of  striving  she  had  advanced  from  stage 
to  stage  of  progress,  dehberate  and  calm,  never 
breaking  with  her  past,  but  making  each  fresh 
gain  the  base  of  a  new  success,  enlarging  popular 
liberties  while  bating  nothing  of  that  height  and 
force  of  individual  development  which  is  the  brain 
and  heart  of  civilization ;  and  now,  through  a  hard- 
earned  victory,  she  taught  the  conquered  colony  to 
share  the  blessings  she  had  won.  A  happier  calam- 
ity never  befeU  a  people  than  the  conquest  of 
Canada  by  the  British  arms. 


APPENDIX. 


[The  following  extracts  are  printed  letter  for  letter  &oni  copies  of  the  orlglLai 

docuiuents.] 

A. 

THE   HERMITAGE   OF   CAEN. 

MilMOIRE  POUR  FAIUE  CONNOISTKK  L'eSPRIT  ET  LA  CONDDITE  DB  LA 
COMPAGNIE  ESTABLIE  EN  LA  VJLLE  DE  CaEN,  APPELEE  l'HeEMI- 
TAGE. 

(Extrait.)  '     Bibliotheque  Nationale. 

C'est  en  ce  fameux  Hermitage  que  le  dit  feu  Sieur  de  Ber 
nieres  a  esleve  plusieurs  jeunes  gens  auxquels  il  enseignoit  une 
espece  d'oraisou  sublime  et  transceudante  que  Ton  appelle  I'orai- 
son  purement  passive,  parceque  I'esprit  n'y  agit  point,  mais 
regoit  seulemeiit  la  divine  operation  ;  c'est  cette  espece  d'oraison 
qui  est  la  source  de  tant  de  visions  et  de  revelations,  dont  I'Her- 
mitage  est  si  fecond  ;  et  apres  qu'il  leur  avoit  subtilize  et  presque 
fait  evaporer  I'esprit  par  cette  oraison  rafiuee,  il  les  rendoit 
capables  de  reconnoistre  les  Jansenistes  les  plus  cachez  ;  en  sorts 
que  quelques  uus  de  ces  discii^les  out  dit  qu'ils  le  connoissoient 
au  flairer,  comme  les  cliiens  font  leur  gibier,  pour  ensuite  leur 
faire  la  chasse,  neantmoins  le  dit  Sieur  de  Bernieres  disoit  qu'il 
u'avoit  pas  I'odorat  si  subtil,  mais  que  la  marque  a  laquelle  il 
counoissoit  les  Jansenistes  estoit  quand  on  improuvoit  sa  con- 
duite  ou  que  Ton  estoit  oppos^  aux  Jesuites  .  .  .  .  Au  com- 
mencement les  personnes  de  cette  corapagnie  ne  se  mesloient  que 
de  I'assistance  des  pauvres,  mais  depuis  que  le  feu  Sieur  de  Ber- 
nieies  qui  estoit  un  simple  laique,  qui  u'avoit  point  d'estudc,  s'en 
estaut  rendu  le  maistre,  il  persuada  a  ceux  qui  en  sont  qu'ello 
n'estoit  pas  seulement  establie  pour  prendre  soin  des  pauvres, 
mais  de  toutes  les  autres  bonnes  ccuvres,  publiques  ou  parti- 

l  This  m^iiioire  f(irms  IIG  pages  in  tlie  copy  in  my  possession. 


404  APPENDIX. 

cuiieres,  qui  regai-clent  la  Piete  et  la  Religion  et  que  Dieu  lea 
avoit  suscitez,  principalement  pour  suppleer  aux  defauts  et  negli- 
gences des  Prelats,  des  Pasteurs,  des  Magistrals,  des  Juges  et 
autres  Superieurs  Ecclesiastiques  et  Politiques  qui  faute  de 
s'appliquer  assez  aux  devoii's  de  leurs  charges,  obmetteut  dans  les 
occasions  beaucoup  de  bieu  qu'ils  pourroient  procurer,  et  neglig- 
ent de  resister  a  beaucoup  de  maux,  d'abus  et  d'erreurs  qu'ils 
pourroient  empecher ;  et  que  pour  remedier  a  ces  mauquements, 
il  estoit  expedient  que  Dieu  suscitat  plusieurs  gens  de  bien  de 
toutes  sortes  de  conditions  qui  s'unissent  ensemble  pour  travailler 
a  I'avaucement  du  bien  qui  se  peut  faire  en  chaque  profession,  et 
pour  extirper  les  erreurs,  les  abus  et  les  vices  qui  s'y  glissent 
souvent,  par  la  negligence  ou  connivence  mesme  de  ceux  qui  sont 
le  plus  obligez  par  leur  ministere  d'y  donner  ordre. 

Et  c'est  dans  cette  pensee  que  ces  messieurs  croyent  avoir 
di'oit  a  se  mesler  de  toates  clioses,  de  s'ingerer  de  toutes  les 
actions  un  peu  eclatantes  qui  regardent  la  Religion,  de  s'ingerer 
en  censeurs  publics,  pour  corriger  et  controller  tout  ce  qui  leur 
deplaist,  d'entrer  et  de  penetrer  dans  les  secrets  des  maisons  et 
des  families  particulieres,  comme  aussi  dans  la  conduite  des  com- 
munautez  Religieuses  pour  y  gouverner  toutes  choses  a  leur  gre  ; 
et  bien  que  ces  messieurs  soient  fort  ignorans,  bien  qu'ils  n'ajent 
aucune  experience  des  affaires  et  qu'ils  passent  dans  le  jugement 
de  tons  ceux  qui  les  connoissent  pour  personnes  qui  n'ont  qu'un 
Zele  impetueux  et  violent,  sans  lumieres  et  sans  discretion,  neaut- 
moins  ils  presument  avoir  assez  de  capacite  pour  reformer  la  vie, 
les  moeurs,  les  sentimeus  et  la  doctrine  de  tons  les  autres.  Et 
ce  qu'il  y  a  de  plus  fascheux  et  de  plus  dangereux  en  cela,  c'est 
que  si  on  ne  defere  aveuglement  a  tons  leurs  sentimens,  si  on 
improuve  leur  conduite  et  si  Ton  oppose  la  moindi'e  resistance  a 
leurs  entreprises,  quoyqu'injustes  et  violentes,  ils  unissent  toutes 
leui's  forces  pour  les  faire  reussir  et  pour  cet  effet  ils  reclameut 
les  sccours  de  tons  ceux  qui  leur  sont  unis,  a  Paris,  a  Rouen  et 
ailleurs,  jjour  decrier,  pour  diffamer  et  pour  perdre  ceux  qui  leur 
resistent  et  qui  veulent  s'opposer  au  cours  de  leurs  violences  et 
de  leurs  injustice,  de  sorte  qu'on  peut  assurer  avec  verite  que 
cette  compagnie  a  degenere  en  ime  cabale  et  en  une  faction  dan- 
gereuse  et  pernicieuse,  tant  a  I'Eglise  qu'a  la  Patrie,  estant  certain 
que  depuis  peu  d'annees  Us  ont  excite  beaucoup  de  troubles  et  de 


APPENDIX.  405 

divisions  dans  toute  la  ville  de  Caen,  et  notamment  dans  le  clergd 
et  mesme  en  jilusieurs  autres  lieux  de  la  Basse-Normandie  ainsi 
qu'il  paroistra  par  les  ai'ticles  suivants  de  ce  m^moire. 

II  est  arrive  quelques  fois  qu'ayant  eu  de  faux  avis  que  des 
maris  maltroitoient  leurs  fenimes  ou  que  des  femmes  u'estoient 
pas  fideles  a  leurs  maris  ou  que  des  fiUes  ne  se  gouvernoieut  pas 
bien,  ils  se  sont  ingerez  sur  le  rapport  qui  en  estoit  fait  eu  leur 
assemblee  de  chercher  les  moyens  de  remedier  h  ces  maux,  et  ils 
en  ont  choisi  de  si  impertinents  et  de  si  iudiscrets  que  cela  a  este 
capable  de  causer  bien  du  desordre  et  de  la  division  dans  les 
families  et  dans  toute  la  ville ;  car  souvent  voulant  empescher 
une  legere  faute,  on  en  fait  naistre  de  grands  scandales,  lorsque 
Ton  agit  par  emportement  plustost  que  jiar  prudence. 

Ce  n'est  pas  seulement  dans  les  families  particulieres  qu'ils 
s'introduisent  pour  en  fureter  les  secrets,  pour  en  connoitre  les 
defauts  et  pour  en  usurper  la  direction  et  le  gouvernement,  mais 
encore  dans  les  maisons  Eeligieuses,  dont  les  unes  se  sont  sou- 
mises  a  leur  domination,  comme  les  Ursulines  de  Caen,  les 
moynes  de  I'Abbaye  d'Ardenne  de  I'ordre  de  Premontr^,  proche 
de  cette  ville  et  depuis  peu  les  fiUes  de  Sainte-Marie ;  et  les 
autres  leur  ayant  tesmoigne  quelque  resistance,  ils  ont  employe 
toute  leur  Industrie  pour  en  venir  k  bout ;  et  oil  I'artifice  a  man- 
que, ils  y  ont  adjoute  les  violences  et  les  menaces 

Mais  il  ne  faut  point  chercher  de  marques  plus  visibles  de  la 
perseverance,  pour  mieux  dire  du  progres  de  ces  faux  ermites 
dans  leurs  emportemens  que  ce  qu'ont  fait  cet  hiver  passe  cinq 
jeunes  hommes  nourris  en  I'Hermitage  et  eleves  sous  la  direc- 
tion et  discipline  du  feu  Sieur  de  Bernieres.  On  leur  avoit  si 
bien  imprime  dans  I'esprit  que  tout  estoit  rempli  de  Jansenistes 
dans  la  ville  de  Caen,  et  que  les  curez  en  estoient  les  fiiuieurs  et 
protecteurs,  qu'un  d'entre  eux  s'imagina  que  Dieu  rins])iroit  forte- 
ment  advertir  le  peuple  de  Caen  que  les  curez  estoient  des  fuu- 
teurs  d'Hereti'ques  et  par  consequent  des  excomuniez ;  et  ayant 
persuade  a  ses  compaguons  d'annoncer  pul)liquemeut  a  toute  la 
ville  ce  crime  pretendu  des  Curez  d'une  maniere  qui  touchast  le 
peuple  et  qui  fut  capable  de  I'exciter  contre  ces  Pasteurs,  ils 
resolurent  de  faire  cette  publication  le  mercredi  quatrieme  du 
mois  de  Febvrier  dernier,  et  jugerent  que  pour  se  disposer  k 
executer  diguement  ce  que  Dieu  leur  avoit  inspire,  il  falloit  faire 


406  APPENDIX. 

ensemble  une  communion  extraordinaire,  immediatement  avant 
que  de  Fentreprendre.  lis  assisterent  done  pour  cet  efFet  et  dans 
la  paroisse  de  Saint-Ouen  a  la  messe  d'un  prestre  qu'on  dit  estre 
de  leur  cabale,  et  commuuiereut  tous  cinq  de  sa  main  ;  et  apres 
leur  communion,  le  plus  zele  mit  bas  son  pourpoint  et  le  laissa 
avec  son  chapeau  dans  I'Eglise  ;  et  accompagne  des  quatre  autres 
qui  le  suivoient  sans  chapeaux,  sans  colets  et  le  pourpoint 
deboutonne,  non-obstant  la  rigueur  extreme  du  froid ;  ils  mar- 
cherent  en  cet  equipage  par  toute  la  ville,  annon9ant  a  haute 
voix  que  les  curez  de  Caen  a.  I'exception  de  deux  qu'ils  nom- 
moient  etoient  fauteurs  de  Jansenistes  et  excommuniez,  pares 
qu'ils  avoient  signe  un  acte  devant  I'official  de  Caen,  oil  ils 
attestent  qu'ils  ne  connoissent  point  de  Jansenistes  dans  la  dite 
ville  et  repetoient  cet  advertissement  de  dix  pas  en  dix  pas,  ce 
qui  emeut  toute  la  ville  et  attira  a  leur  suite  une  grande  multi- 
tude de  jjopulace  qui  se  persuadant  que  ces  gens  estoient  envoyes 
de  Dieu  pour  leur  donner  cet  advertissement,  temoignoient  desja 
de  I'emotion  contre  les  curez.  Mais  les  magistrats  qui  estoient 
alors  au  siege  en  ayant  est^  advertis,  ils  envoyerent  leurs  huissiers 
pour  les  arrester  et  les  emmener,  et  ayant  este  interrogez  par  le 
juge  sur  le  sujet  d'une  action  si  extraordinaire,  ils  respondirent 
hardiment  qu'ils  I'avoient  entreprise  pour  le  service  de  Dieu  et 
qu'ils  estoient  prests  de  souffrir  la  mort  pour  soustenir  la  verite 
de  ce  qu'ils  annoncjoient,  qu'ils  avoient  connoissance  certaine 
qu'il  y  avoit  grand  nombre  de  Jansenistes  en  la  ville  de  Caen,  et 
que  les  curez  s'en  estoient  declarez  les  fauteurs,  par  la  declara- 
tion qu'ils  avoient  dounee  qu'ils  n'en  connoissoient  point ;  ensuitte 
de  quoy  quatre  d'entre  eux  furent  renvoyez  en  prison  et  le 
cinquieme  fut  mis  entre  les  mains  de  ses  parents  sur  une  attesta- 
tion que  donnerent  les  medecins  qu'il  estoit  liypocondriaque  et 
pen  de  jours  apres  le  lieutenant  criminel  ayant  instruit  le  procez, 
les  quatre  prisonniers  furent  condamnez  a  cent  livres  d'amende ; 
il  leur  fut  deffendu  et  a  tous  autres  de  s'assem'bler  ni  d'exciter 
aucun  scandale,  il  fut  ordonne  qu'ils  seroient  mis  entre  les  mains 
de  leur  parents  pour  s'en  charger  et  en  faire  bonne  et  seure 
garde,  avec  deifense  de  les  laisser  entrer  dans  la  ville  et  aux 
fauxbourgs,  sur  peines  au  cas  appar  ten  antes.  .  .  . 

Car  de  quelles  entreprises  ne  sont  pas  capables  des  personnea 
d'esprit  faible  et  d'humeur  atrabilaire  que  d'ailleurs  ©n   a  des* 


APPENDIX.  407 

s^chees  par  des  jeunes,  des  veilles  et  d'autres  austeritez  continu- 
elles  et  par  des  meditations  de  trois  ou  quatre  heures  par  jour, 
lorsque  Ton  ne  les  entretient  presque  d'autre  chose,  si  non  que 
leur  Religion  et  I'Eglise  sont  en  un  tres  grand  danger  de  se 
perdre,  par  la  faction  et  la  conspiration  des  Jansenistes  lesquels 
on  leur  represente  dans  les  livres,  dans  les  sermons  et  dans  les 
confi^rences,  comme  des  gens  qui  veulent  renverser  les  fonde- 
ments  de  la  Religion  et  de  la  Piete  Chrestienne,  qui  veulent 
detruire  le  mystere  de  I'lncarnation,  qui  ne  croyent  point  a  la 
Transubstantation  ni  I'lnvocation  des  Saints,  ni  les  Indulgences, 
qui  veulent  abolir  le  sacrifice  de  la  messe  et  le  sacrement  de  la 
Penitence,  qui  combattent  la  devotion  et  la  culte  de  la  Sainte- 
Vierge,  qui  nient  le  franc  arbitre  et  qui  substituent  en  sa  place  le 
destin  et  la  fatalite  des  Turcs,  et  enfin  qui  machiuent  la  ruine  de 
I'authorite  des  Souverains  Pontifes.  Qu'y  a-t-il  >de  plus  sas6 
que  d'animer  les  esprits  imbeciles  d'eux  mesmes  et  prevenus  de 
ces  fausses  imaginations  contre  des  Evesques,  des  Docteurs,  des 
Curez,  et  contre  d'autres  personnes  tres  vertueuses  et  tres  catho- 
liques,  lorsqu'on  leur  fait  croire  que  toutes  ces  personnes  con- 
spirent  a  establir  una  heresie  abominable  I 


B. 

LAVAL   AND   ARGENSON. 

LeTTRB   de    l'EvESQUE    de   PeTR^E   a   M.   d'ArGENSON,   FRtBX 
DO    GODVERNEOR. 

{ExtraitJ)     Papiers  (TArgenson. 

Jai  receu  dans  mon  entree  dans  le  pays  de  Monsieur  votre 
frere  toutes  les  marques  d'une  bieuveillance  extraordinaire ;  iay 
fait  mon  possible  pour  la  recongnoistre  et  luy  ay  rendu  tons  les 
respects  que  je  dois  a  une  personne  de  sa  vertu  et  de  son  morite 
joint  h,  la  qualite  qu'il  porte ;  comme  son  plus  veritable  amy  et 
fidelle  serviteur  iay  cru  estre  oblige  de  luy  donner  un  advis  im- 
portant pour  le  bien  de  I'Eglise  et  qui  luy  devoit  estre  utile  s'il 
I'eust  pris  dans  la  mesme  disposition  que  ie  suis  asseur^  que  voua 
I'auries  receu ;  cestoit  seul  k  seul  k  coeur  ouvert  avec  marques 


408  APPENDIX. 

assez  ^videntes  que  ce  que  ie  luy  disois  estoit  vray  veu  qu'il 
estoit  fonde  sur  des  sentimens  que  i'avois  veu  moy  mesme  pa- 
roistre  en  diverses  aSsemblees  publiques ;  cependant  il  ne  fist 
que  trop  conguoistre  qu'il  ne  trouvoit  auqunnement  bon  que 
ie  luy  donnaisses  cet  advertissement  et  me  vouUut  faire  em- 
brasser  Ie  party  de  ceux  qui  avaient  tout  subject  de  se  plaindre 
de  son  precede  envers  eux,  mais  que  je  ne  pretendois  auqunne- 
ment justifier  n'en  ayant  auqunne  plainte  de  leur  part  pour  luy 
faire  et  d'ailleurs  estans  asses  desinteresses ;  vous  pouvez  bien 
iuger  quels  sont  ceus  dont  ie  veux  parler  sans  vous  les  nommer 
puisque  vous  mesme  qui  avez  uue  affection  sincere  et  bien  reglee 
pour  ces  dignes  ouvriers  evangeliques  m'avez  avoue  que  vous 
aviez  doulleur  de  Ie  voir  partir  dans  les  sentiments  oil  il  estoit  a 
leur  esgard  sans  beaucoup  de  fondement  du  moins  suflBsamment 
recongneu  pour  lors ;  ce  que  ie  luy  dis  avoir  sceu  de  vous  pour 
ne  rien  omettre  de  ce  que  je  me  persuadois  qui  estoit  capable  de 
lui  faire  avouer  une  verite  qui  nestoit  que  trop  appareute,  ce  qui 
devoit  un  peu  Ie  calmer  son  esprit  sembla  I'aigrir  et  se  fascha  de 
ce  que  vous  m'aviez  faict  cette  ouverture,  ie  ne  scais  depuis  ce 
qu'il  a  pense  de  moy,  mais  il  semble  que  je  luy  sois  suspect  et 
qu'il  aye  cru  que  i'embrasse  la  cause  de  ces  bons  serviteurs  de 
Dieu  a  son  preiudice,  mais  ie  puis  bien  asseurer  qu'ils  n'ont  pour 
luy  que  des  sentimens  de  respect  et  que  la  plus  forte  passion  que 
iaye  est  de  Ie  voir  dans  une  parfaite  imion  et  intelligence  aveo 
eux. 

Quebec  ce  20  Octobre  1659. 

Lettre  de  M.  d'Argenson,  1660. 

(Extrait.)     Papier s  d^Argenson. 

Monsieur  de  Petree  a  une  telle  adherence  k  ses  sentiments  et 
un  zele  qui  Ie  porte  souvent  hors  du  droict  de  sa  charge  qu'il  ne 
faict  aucune  difficulte  d'empieter  sur  Ie  pouvoir  des  aultres  et 
avec  tant  de  chaleur  qu'il  n'ecoute  personne.  II  enleva  ces  jours 
derniers  une  lille  servente  d'un  habitant  d'icy,  et  la  mit  de  sou 
autorite  dans  les  Hursulines  sur  Ie  seul  pi-etexte  qu'il  vouloit  la 
faire  instruire,  et  par  la  il  priva  cet  habitant  du  s'ervice  qu'il  pre- 
tendoit  de  sa  servente  qui  luy  avoit  faict  beaucoup  de  depense  a 
amener  de  France.     Cet  habitant  est  Mf  Denis  lequel  ne  cognois- 


APPENDIX.  409 

Bant  pas  qui  I'avoit  soubstret  me  presenta  requeste  pour  I'avoir. 
Je  garde  [^sic']  la  requeste  sans  la  repondre  trois  jours  pour  em- 
pescher  I'eclat  de  cette  affaire.  Le  R.  P.  Lalement  avec  lequel 
j'eu  communique  et  lequel  blasma  fort  le  procede  de  Mf  de  Pe- 
tree  s'employa  de  tout  son  pouvoir  pour  la  faire  rendre  sans  bruit 
et  n'y  gaigna  rien,  si  bien  que  je  fus  oblige  de  repondre  la  re 
queste  et  de  permettre  k  cet  habitant  de  reprendre  sa  servente 
oil  il  la  trouveroit,  et  si  je  n'eusse  insinue  soubs  main  d'accom- 
moder  cette  affaire  et  que  I'habitant  a  qui  on  refusa  de  la  rendre 
I'eut  poursuivi  en  justice  j'eusse  este  oblige  de  la  luy  rendre  et  de 
pousser  tout  avec  beaucoup  de  scanda,l  et  cela  (a  cattse  de)  la 
volonte  de  Mf  de  Petree  qui  diet  qu'un  evesque  peult  ce  quHl 
veult,  et  ne  menace  que  dexcominunication. 

Lettre  de  M.  d'Argenson. 

(Extraits.)     Papiers  d'Argenson. 

Kebec  le  7  Juillet,  1660. 
Mr  de  Petree  a  faist  naistre  cette  contestation  et  ie  puis  dire 
auec  verity  que  son  zele  en  plusieurs  rencontres  approche  fort 
d'une  grande  atache  k  son  sentiment  et  d'empietement  sur  la 
charge  des  aultres  comme  vous  le  verrez  par  un  billet  icy  joint. 
.  .  .  De  toutes  ces  contestations  que  i'ay  eu  auec  Mf  de  Petree 
i'ay  tousjours  faist  le  R.  P.  Lalemand  mediateur ;  c'est  uiie  per- 
sonne  d'un  si  grand  merite  et  d'un  sens  si  acheve  que  ie  pense 
qu'on  ne  peult  rien  y  adjouter ;  il  seroit  bien  k  souhaiter  que 
touts  ceux  de  sa  maison  suivissent  ses  sentiments ;  ils  ne  se  mes- 
leroient  pas  de  censurer  plusieurs  choses  comme  ils  font  et  lais- 
seroient  le  gouvernement  des  affaires  a  ceux  que  Dieu  a  ordonn^ 
pour  cela. 


c. 

PERONNE    DUMESNIL. 

Lb  Sikur  Gaudais  dc  Pont  a  Monseionedr  de  Colbert.    1604. 

(^Extrait.)     Archives  de  la  Marine. 

QuELQUE  7  ou  8  jours  apres  I'etablissement  du  Conseil  Sou- 
verain,  en  consequence  des  lettres  patentes  de   Sa  majesty,  le 


410  APPENDIX. 

Procureur  General  flu  flit  Conseil  jugeant  qu'il  ^tait  de  sa 
charge  tie  reprendre  les  (papiers)  de  cette  plainte  pour  ne  pas 
laisser  un  tel  attentat  impuui,  fit  sa  requete  verbale  au  dit  Con- 
seil tentlante  a  ce  qu'il  lui  fut  donne  commission  pour  informer 
contre  le  dit  Sieur  Du  Mesnil ;  et  que  si  le  dit  Sieur  Du  Mesnil, 
avait  avis  fie  la  dite  commission  qu'il  ne  manquerait  pas  fie 
detourner  ces  dits  papiers,  demandant  qu'il  lui  fut  permis  de 
saisir  et  de  sequestrer  ici  et  apposer  le  sceau  au  coffre  ou 
armoire  en  laquelle  se  trouveraient  les  flits  papiers,  et  pour 
ce  faire  qu'il  plut  au  dit  Conseil  nommer  tel  Commissaire  qu'il 
jugerait  a  propos.  Le  dit  Conseil  enterinant  la  requete  du  dit 
Procureur  General,  nomma  le  Sieur  de  Villeray,  pour,  en  la 
presence  du  dit  Procureur  General  et  assistance  de  son  GrefRer 
vaquer  a  la  dite  information,  &c. 

Et  d'autant  que  le  dit  Sieur  Du  Mesnil  etait  estime  homme 
violent  et  qu'il  pourrait  faire  quelque  boutade,  pour  donner  main 
forte  a  la  justice,  INIr.  le  Gouverneur  fut  prie  par  les  dits  Con- 
seillers  de  faire  escorter  le  dit  Sieur  Commissaire  par  quelque 
nombre  de  soldats. 

Le  dit  Sieur  de  Villeray  assiste,  comme  dit  est  pour  I'execu- 
tion  de  sa  commission,  se  transporta  au  logis  du  dit  Sieur  Du 
Mesnil,  laissant  a  quartier  I'eseorte  de  soldats  pour  s'en  servir  en 
cas  de  besoin. 

Le  dit  Sieur  Du  Mesnil  ne  trompa  pas  I'opinion  que  Ton 
avait  eue  de  sa  violence,  fit  grand  bruit,  cria  aux  voleurs,  voulant 
emouvoir  son  voisinage,  outrageant  d'injures  les  dits  Sieurs  de 
Villeray  et  Procureur  General  au  grand  mepris  de  I'autorite  du 
Conseil,  refusant  meme  de  le  reconnaitre.  Ce  qui  n'empecha 
pas  le  dit  Sieur  de  Villeray  d'executer  sa  commission  de  saisir 
les  papiers  du  dit  Sieur  Du  Mesnil,  qui  en  donna  la  clef,  y  fit 
apposer  le  sceau  et  icelui  sequestrer  es  mains  d'un  voisin  du  dit 
Sieur  Du  Mesnil  et  de  son  consentement. 

Le  lendemain  le  dit  Sieur  de  Villeray  rapporta  son  proces 
verbal  au  dit  conseil,  atteste  du  dit  Procureur  General,  et  signe 
du  Greffier  du  dit  Conseil  et  sur  les  injures,  violences  et  irreve- 
rences y  contenues  tant  contre  le  dit  Sieur  Commissaire  que 
I'autorite  du  Conseil,  fit  decerner  un  decret  de  prise  de  corps 
contre  le  dit  Sieur  Du  Mesnil,  dont  j'empechai  I'execution. 


APPENDIX.  411 

Memoire  de  Dujiesnil  concernant  les  affaires  du  Canada. 
(Extrait.)     Archives  de  la  Marine. 

10  SeI'tembre,  1671 

Ties  (lits  Sieurs  de  Mesy,  Gouverneur,  de  Petroe,  P^veque,  et 
Dupout  Gaudais,  arrives  au  dit  Quebecle  16®  jour  de  Septembro 
1 663,  furent  le  lendemain  salues  et  visites  par  le  dit  Du  Mesnil 
precedent  juge,  lequel  par  devoir  et  civilite  leur  dit  par  forme 
d  avis  que  par  des  arrets  du  conseil  du  Roi,  qu'il  leur  represeuta 
en  date  du  27  Mars  1647  et  13  Mai  1659  tous  les  commis  et 
receveurs  des  dits  deniers  publics  etaient  exclus  de  toutes 
charges  publiques,  jusqu'k  ce  qu'ils  eussent  rendu  et  assure  leurs 
comptes,  et  le  nomme  Villeray  chasse  du  conseil  de  la  traite 
pour  y  avoir  entre  par  voies  et  moyeus  illicites  ;  et  ordount^  qu'il 
viendrait  en  France  pour  le  purger  de  ses  crimes  ;  ce  qu'il  n'a 
pas  fait,  et  pour  nommer  les  autres  commis,  receveurs,  auxquela 
il  aurait  commence  a  faire  le  proces  pendant  qu'il  etait  juge. 

Nonobstant  lesquels  dires,  actes  et  arrets  representes,  les  dits 
Sieurs  de  Mesy,  Eveque  de  Petree,  et  Dupont  Gaudais,  n'ont 
delaisse  de  prendre  et  admettre  avec  eux  au  dit  Conseil  Sou- 
verain  les  dits  comptables ;  lesquels  par  ce  moyen  se  pr^tendeut 
a  convert  et  exempts  de  rendre  les  dits  comptes.  Le  dit  etablisse- 
ment  de  conseil  fait  et  arrete  par  les  dits  Commissaires  le  18 
du  mois  de  Septembre,  deux  jours  apres  leur  arrivee ;  et  pour 
Procureur  General  prennent  un  nomme  Jean  Bourdon,  boulanger 
et  caunouier  au  fort  et  aussi  comptable  de  8  k  900,000  livres, 
comme  il  sera  montre  et  qu'il  a  prete  son  nom. 

Le  20  du  mois  de  Septembre,  deux  jours  apres  I'etablissement 
du  dit  conseil,  les  dits  Villeray  soi-disant  conseiller  et  commis- 
saire  et  Bourdon,  Procureur  General  accompagnes  de  deux  ser- 
gents,  d'un  serrurier  et  de  dix  soldats  du  fort,  bien  armies  vont 
en  la  maison  du  dit  Du  Mesnil,  Intendant  et  ContrOleur  General, 
et  pen  auparavaut  leur  juge  souverain,  sur  les  7  a  8  heures  du 
Boir  pour  piller  sa  maison;  ce  qu'ils  firent;  ayant  fait  rompre 
la  porte  de  son  cabinet,  ses  armoires  et  un  coffret ;  pris  et  em- 
porte  ce  qu'ils  ont  trouve  dedans  et  notamment  tous  ses  papiers 
dans  lesquels  etaient  leurs  proces  presque  faits,  et  les  preuvcs  de 
Icurs  pt^culats,  concussions  et  malversations,  sans  aucun  inventaire 
ni  forme  de  justice,  etaut  le  dit  Du  Mesnil,  lors  des  dites  vio- 


412  APPENDIX. 

lences,  tenu  et  arrete  sur  un  siege  et  rudement  traitc  par  les  sol 
dats  jusques  a  I'empecher  d'appeler  du  secours  et  des  temoina 
pour  voir  ce  qui  se  passait  en  sa  maison  et  comme  il  etait  lie  et 
arrete. 

Cette  action  violente  ainsi  faite  et  le  dit  Du  Mesnil  se  voyant 
delivre  du  massacre  de  sa  personne  dont  il  etait  menace,  et  d'etre 
assassine  comme  son  fils  s'en  va  trouver  le  dit  Sieur  Dupont 
Gaudais  prenant  qualite  d'Intendant  pour  lui  en  faire  plainte, 
qu'il  ne  voulut  entendre,  disant  que  c'etait  de  son  ordonnance  et 
du  dit  Conseil  que  la  dite  action  et  prise  de  papiers  avait  ete 
faite;  a  quoi  le  dit  Du  Mesnil  repartit  qu'il  s'en  plaindrait  an 
Roi,  et  lui  en  demanderait  justice,  ce  qui  obligea  le  dit  Dupont 
Gaudais  de  dire  an  dit  Du  Mesnil  qu'il  donnat  sa  requete ;  ce 
qui  fut  fait,  et  sur  laquelle  fut  par  le  dit  Conseil  ordonne  le  22 
du  dit  mois  de  Septembre,  deux  jours  apres  cette  violence  que 
le  dit  Dupont  Gaudais  serait  commissaire  pour  verifier  les  faits 
d'icelle  requete ;  ce  que  poursnivant  le  dit  Du  Mesnil,  il  eut 
ordre  verbal  du  dit  Sr.  Gaudais  de  mettre  au  Greffe  ses  causes 
et  moyens  de  recusation,  de  nullite  de  prise  a  partie  et  de  de- 
mandes ;  ce  que  le  dit  Du  Mesnil  fit  comme  appert  par  I'acte 
eigne  du  Greffier  du  dit  Conseil  du  28  du  dit  mois  de  Septembre 
sur  lesquelles  recusations,  prises  a  partie  et  demandes,  le  dii 
Conseil  n'a  rien  voulu  ordonner,  comme  appert  par  autre  acte 
du  dit  Greffier  du  21  Octobre  ensuivant,  jour  ordonne  pour 
I'embarquement  et  depart  des  vaisseaux  du  dit  Quebec  pour 
ibtourner  en  France. 

Mais  au  lieu  de  statuer  et  ordonner  sur  les  faits,  moyens  et 
conclusions  du  dit  Du  Mesnil,  le  dit  Conseil  sans  plainte,  sans 
partie  et  sans  information  a  dresse  emprisonnement  du  dit 
Du  Mesnil  et  cache  le  decret  sans  le  mettre  au  Greffe  dans 
I'intention  de  le  faire  paraitre  et  executer  du  meme  temps  que 
le  dit  Du  Mesnil  se  voudrait  embarquer  j^our  revenir  en 
France,  afin  qu'il  n'eut  pas  le  temps  de  donner  avis  des  vio- 
lences qu'on  lui  faisait :  de  quoi  averti  il  s'embarqua  quel- 
ques  jours  auparavant  les  autres  et  fut  re^u  par  le  Capitaine 
Gardeur  dans  son  navire,  nonobstant  les  defenses  qui  lui  en 
avaient  ete  faites  par  le  dit  nouveau  Conseil  et  que  six  pieces  de 
canon  de  la  plate  forme  d'en  bas  fussent  pointees  centre  son 
navire  pour  le  faire  oh6\r  a  leurs  ordonnances. 


APPENDIX.  413 

Tous  ces  massacres,  assassins  et  pillages  n'ont  et^  faits  au  dit 
Du  Mesnil,  Intendant,  par  les  dits  comptables,  ordonnateurs  et 
preneurs  de  bien  public  et  leurs  parents  et  allies  que  pour  tacher 
a  couvrir  et  s'exempter  de  compter,  payer  et  rendre  ce  qu'ils  ont 
pille,  savoir 


LAVAL    AND    MESY. 
Obdbe  de  M?  de  Mest  de  faike  sommation  a  l'Evequb 

DE    PeTREE. 

(Extrait.)     Registre  du  Conseil  Superieur. 

13  Fevkier,  1664. 

Le  Sieur  d'Angoville,  Major  de  la  Garnison  entretenue  par  le 
Roi  dans  le  Fort  de  S?  Louis  h  Quebec  pays  de  la  Nouvelle 
France,  est  commande  par  nous  Sieur  de  Mesy,  Lieutenant 
General  et  Gouverneur  pour  Sa  Majeste  dans  toute  I'etendue  cln 
dit  pays,  aller  dire  et  avertir  Monsieur  I'Eveque  de  Petree  etant 
presentement  dans  la  chambre  qui  servait  ci-devant  aux  Assem 
blees  du  Conseil  au  dit  pays,  que  les  Sieurs  nommes  pour  Con- 
seillers  et  le  Sieur  Bourdon  pour  Procureur  du  Roi  au  dit 
conseil  a  la  persuasion  du  dit  Sieur  de  Petree  qui  les  connaissait 
entierement  ses  creatures  setant  voulu  rendre  les  maitres  de- 
clares et  portes  en  diverses  manieres  dans  le  dit  Conseil  centre 
les  Interets  du  Roi  et  du  public  pour  appuyer  et  autoriser  les  in- 
terets  d'autrui  en  particulier,  il  leur  a  ete  commande  jjar  notre 
ordre  pour  la  conservation  des  interets  du  Roi  en  ce  pays,  de 
s'absenter  du  dit  Conseil  jusqu'h  ce  que  a  notre  diligence  par  le 
retom-  des  premiers  vaisseaux  qui  viendront,  Sa  Majeste  ait  etc 
iuformee  de  leur  conduite,  et  qu'ils  se  soient  justifies  des  cabales 
qu'ils  ont  formees,  fomentees  et  entretenues  contre  leur  devoir  et 
le  serment  de  fidelity  qu'ils  etaient  obliges  de  garder  a  Sa  dite 
Majeste. 

Priant  le  dit  Sieur  Eveque  acquiescer  h  la  dite  interdiction 
poui-  le  bien  du  service  du  Roi,  et  vouloir  proceder  par  I'avis 


414  APPENDIX 

d'une  Assemblee  publique  a  nouvelle  nomination  des  Conseillere 
en  la  place  des  dits  Sieurs  Interdits  pour  pouvoir  rendre  la  jus- 
tice aux  peuples  et  habitants  de  ce  pays,  Declarant  que  noua 
Sieur  de  Mesy  ne  pouvous  en  uommer  aucuu  de  notre  part  en 
la  fa(;ou  en  laquelle  nous  avons  ete  surpris  par  notre  facilite  lors 
dc  la  premiere  nomination  manque  d'une  parfaite  connaissance, 
et  que  s'il  est  foit  quelque  chose  au  prejudice  de  cet  avertisse- 
ment  par  aucun  des  dits  Conseillers  interdits,  ils  seront  traites 
comme  desobeissauts,  fomenteurs  de  rebellions  et  contraires  au 
repos  public. 

(Signe)  «Mesy." 

RePONSB    de    l'EvEQUE    de    PETKfeB. 

Registre  du  Conseil  Superieur. 

16  Fev.  1664. 

Laissant  a  part  les  paroles  offensives  et  accusations  injuri- 
euses  qui  me  regardent  dans  I'affiche  mise  au  son  du  tambour  lo 
treizierafi  de  cc  mois  de  Fevrier,  au  poteau  public,  dont  je  pre- 
tends me  justifier  devant  Sa  Majestd  je  reponds  a  la  priere  que 
Monsieur  le  Gouverneur  m'y  fait  d'agreer  I'interdiction  des  per- 
sonnes  qui  y  sout  comprises,  et  de  vouloir  proceder  a  la  nomi- 
nation d'autres  Conseillers  ou  Officiers  et  ce  par  I'avis  d'une 
assemblee  2:)ublique,  que  ni  ma  conscience  ni  mon  honneur,  ni  le 
respect  et  obeissance  que  je  dois  aux  volontes  et  commande- 
ments  du  Roi,  ni  la  fidelite  et  I'affection  que  je  dois  a  son  ser- 
vice ne  me  le  permettent  aucunement  jusques  a  ce  que  dans  un 
jugement  legitime  les  desnommes  dans  la  susdite  affiche  soient 
convaincus  des  crimes  dont  on  les  y  accuse. 

A  Quebec  ce  seizieme  Fevrier  mil-six-cent-soixante-quatre. 

(Sign^)      "Fkan^ois,"  Eveque  de  Quebec. 

Enregistr^  a  la  requete  de  Mgr.  I'Eveque  de  Petree  ce  16 
Fevrier  1664  par  moi  Secretaire  au  Conseil  Souverain  sous- 
sign^. 

(Signe)  Peuvret,  Secret" 

avec  paraphe 


APPENDIX.  416 

Lettrb  de  Mest  aux  Jescites. 
(Extrait.)     Collection  de  VAbbe  Ferland. 

Comme  aiusi  soit  que  la  gloire  de  Dieu,  le  service  du  Roi  et  le 
Bervice  du  public  nous  aient  engages  de  venir  en  ce  pays  pour  y 
rencontrer  notre  salut  par  la  soUicitation  de  M.  I'Eveque  de 
Petree  qui  nous  a  fait  agreer  au  Roi  pour  avoir  Thonnetir  d'etre 
son  Lieutenant  General  et  Gouverneur  de  toute  la  Nouvelle 
France,  representer  sa  personne  dans  le  Conseil  Souverain  qu'il 
a  etabli  dans  ce  dit  pays  pour  exercer  la  justice,  police  et  finance, 
ce  qui  nous  tient  lieu  d'obligation  vers  mon  dit  Sieur  I'Eveque 
pour  lui  donner  des  marques  de  reconnaissance  en  toutes  ren- 
contres. A  quoi  nous  sommes  aussi  obliges  par  son  merite  par- 
ticulier  et  par  le  respect  qui  est  dii  a  son  caractere,  mais  qui  ne 
doit  eutrer  en  nulle  consideration  pour  le  regard  du  service  et 
de  la  fidelite  que  nous  sommes  oblige  de  rendre  a  S.  M. ;  n'etant 
pas  ni  de  notre  conscience  ni  de  notre  honneur  d'avoir  accepte  la 
commission  dont  il  nous  a  honor^,  pour  n'en  pas  faire  le  deub  de 
notre  charge  et  de  trahir  les  intdrets  de  Sa  dite  Majesty ;  lui  en 
ayant  fait  le  serment  de  fidelity  entre  ses  mains  et  d'en  avoir 
re9U  le  commandement  par  sa  bouclie.  Pourquoi  ayant  rencon- 
lv6  plusieurs  pratiques  que  nous  avons  cru  en  conscience  par  de- 
voir etre  oblige  d'en  empecher  la  suite,  nous  aurions  fait  publier 
notre  declaration  du  13*  jour  de  F(^vrier  dernier,  et  ne  I'ayant 
pu  faire  faire  sans  y  interesser  le  S'  Eveque,  notre  dite  declara- 
tion nous  fiiit  passer  dans  son  esprit  et  de  tons  Messieurs  les 
Ecclt^siastiques  qui  considerent  ce  point  d'une  pretendue  olfeuse 
sans  avoir  egard  aucunement  aux  int^rets  du  Roy  pour  un  calom- 
niateur,  mauvais  juge,  un  ingrat  et  conscience  erronnee  et  i)lu- 
sieurs  autres  termes  injurieux  qui  se  publient  journellement 
centre  I'autorite  du  Koy,  en  faisaut  un  point  de  reprobation  de 
la  dite  pretendue  offense,  un  des  principaux  nous  etant  venu 
avertir  que  Ton  nous  pourrait  faire  fermer  la  porte  des  Eglises 
et  nous  empecher  de  recevoir  les  S*'  Sacrements,  si  nous  ne  repa- 
rions  la  dite  pretendue  offense,  ce  qui  nous  donne  un  scrupule  en 
Tame ;  et  de  plus  ne  pouvant  nous  adresser  pour  nous  en  dclair- 
cir  qu'ti  des  personnes  qui  se  declarent  nos  parties  et  qui  jugent 
du  fait  sans  en  savoir  la  cause ;  mais  n'y  ayant  rien  de  si  impor- 
tant au  raonde  que  le  salut  et  la  fidelity  que  nous  devons  garder 


416  APPENDIX. 

jjour  les  int^rets  du  Roi  qiae  nous  tenons  inseparables  I'un  de 
I'autre,  et  reconnaissant  qu'il  n'y  a  rien  de  si  certain  que  la  mort 
et  rien  de  si  inconnu  que  I'laeure,  et  que  le  temps  est  long  pour 
informer  Sa  Majeste  de  ce  qui  se  passe,  pour  en  recevoir  ses 
ordres,  et  qu'en  attendant,  une  ame  est  toujours  dans  la  crainte 
quoiqu'elle  se  connaisse  dans  I'innocence,  nous  sommes  oblig^ 
avoir  n^anmoins  recours  aux  Reverends  Peres  Casuistes  de  la 
maison  de  Jesus  pour  nous  dire  en  leur  conscience  ce  que  nous 
pouvons  pour  la  decharge  de  la  notre  et  pour  garder  la  fidelite 
que  nous  devous  avoir  pour  le  service  du  Roi,  les  priant  qu'ils 
aient  agrdable  signer  ce  qu'ils  jugeront  au  bas  de  cet  ecrit,  afin 
de  nous  servir  de  garantie  vers  sa  Majesty. 

Fait  au    Chateau  de    Quebec,  ce  dernier  jour  de   Fevrier, 
1664. 

"  Mesy  '• 


E. 

MARRIAGE  AND  POPULATION. 

Lettre  de  Colbert  a  Talon. 

(ExtraitS)      Archives  de  la  Marine. 

Paris,  20  Fevrier,  IbbS 
Sa  Majesty  a  fait  une  gratification  de  1500  livres  a  JSP  de 
Lamotte,  l*""  Capitaine  au  Regiment  de  Carignan-Salieres,  tant 
en  consideration  du  service  qu'il  rend  en  Canada,  de  la  construc- 
tion des  forts  et  de  ses  expeditious  qui  out  ete  faites  centre  les 
Iroquois,  que  du  mariage  qu'il  a  contract^  dans  le  pays,  et  de  la 
resolution  qu'il  a  prise  de  s'y  habituer.  Elle  a  ordonue  de  plus 
la  somme  de  6000  livres  pour  etre  distribuees  aux  otficiers  des 
memes  troupes,  ou  qui  s'y  sont  deja  marit^s  ou  qui  s'y  marieront 
afin  de  leur  donner  des  moyens  de  s'etablir  et  de  mieux  s'afiermir 
dans  la  pensee  ou  ils  sont  de  ne  pas  revenir  en  France.  Elle 
fait  un  autre  fond  de  12,000  livres  pour  etre  distribue  aux  sol- 
data  qui  resteront  aux  pays  et  qui  s'y  marieront,  autres  que 
ceux  des  quatre  compagnies  qu'elle  y  laisse,  ces  derniers  etant 
entretenus  par  le  paiement  de  leur  solde  ....   1200  livres  pour 


APPENDIX.  417 

colui  des  meilleurs  habitants  qui  a  15  enfauts,  et  800  livres  pour 
I'autre  qui  en  a  dix.  Elle  a  aussi  gratifie  M.  I'EvSque  de  Petree 
d'une  somme  de  6000  livres  pour  continuer  a  I'assister  pour  sou- 
tenir  sa  dignite,  fournir  aux  besoins  de  son  Eglise  et  de  son 
eeininaire,  et  eufin  40,000  livres  pour  etre  employees  k  la  levee 
de  150  hommes  et  de  50  filles  dej^uis  16  jusqu'a  30  ans  et  non 
au  dela ;  outre  235  que  la  Compagnie  y  fiiit  jjasser  cette  annee, 
et  qui  devaient  y  etre  passees  I'annce  derniere ;  12  Cavales, 
2  etalons,  2  gros  anes  de  Mirbelais  et  50  brebis  ;  a  quoi  Ton 
travaille  dans  les  provinces  du  royaume,  et  Ton  n'oublie  rien 
pour  I'embarquement  partant  de  la  Rochelle  vers  la  fin  du  mois 
prochain. 

.  .  .  .  Je  vous  pric  de  bien  faire  considerer  a  tout  le  pays  que 
leur  bien,  leur  subsistance,  et  tout  ce  qui  pent  les  regarder  de 
plus  pres  depend  d'une  resolution  publique  k  laquelle  il  ne  soit 
jamais  contrevenu  de  marier  les  gargons  k  18  ou  19  ans,  et  les 
filles  k  14  ou  15  ans;  que  les  oppositions  de  n'avoir  jjas  sutfi- 
sammeut  pour  vivre  doivent  etre  rejetees,  parceque  dans  ces  pays 
et  le  Canada  premierement  oil  tout  le  monde  travaille,  il  se 
produit  pour  tons  la  subsistance  et  que  I'abondance  ne  peut 

jamais   leur  venir  que  par  I'abondance  des  hommes II 

serait  bon  de  rendre  les  charges  et  servitudes  doubles  a  I'egard 
des  gargons  qui  ne  se  marieraient  point  a  cet  age  .  .  .  .  et  a 
regard  de  ceux  qui  sembleraient  avoir  absolument  renonce  au 
mariage,  il  serait  a  propos  de  leur  augmenter  les  charges,  de  les 
priver  de  tons  honneurs,  meme  d'y  ajouter  quelque  marque 
d'iufamie. 

....  Bien  que  le  Royaume  de  France  soit  autant  peuple 
qu'aucun  j^ays  du  monde,  il  est  certain  qu'il  serait  dilficile  d'en- 
tretenir  de  grandes  armees  et  de  faire  passer  en  meme  temps  de 

grandes  Colonies  dans  les  pays  ^loignes II  faut  done  se 

r^duire  k  tirer  seulement  chaque  annee  avec  precaution  uu 
nombre  d'habitants  de  I'un  et  de  I'autre  sexe,  pour  les  envoyer 
au  Canada,  et  fonder  princijialemeut  I'augmentation  de  la  colonie 
6ur  Taugmentation  des  manages,  k  mesure  que  le  nombre  des 
colons  augmentera. 


27 


418  APPENDIX. 


Lettee  de  Talon  a  Colbert. 
{Extrait.)      Archives  de  la  Marine. 

10  Novembre,  1670. 

....  De  toiites  les  filles  venues  cette  annee  au  nombre  de 
1  65,  il  n'en  reste  pas  30  a  marier.  Apres  que  les  soldats  venus 
cette  annee  auront  travaille  a  faire  une  habitation,  Us  se  porte- 
ront  au  mariage ;  pour  quoi  il  serait  bon  qull  plut  a  Sa  Majeste 
d'envoyer  encore  150  a  200  filles. 

....  II  serait  bon  de  recommander  que  les  filles  destinees  a 
ce  pays  ne  soient  nullement  disgraciees  de  la  nature,  qu'elles 
n'aient  rien  de  rebuttant  a  I'exterieur  ;  qu'elles  soient  saiues  et 
fortes  pour  le  travail  de  campagne,  ou  dumoins  qu'elles  aient 
quelqu'industrie  pour  les  ouvrages  de  main. 

....  Trois  ou  quatre  filles  de  naissance  et  distinguees  par 
la  qualite  serviraient  peut-etre  utilemeut  a  lier  par  le  mariage 
des  officiers  qui  ne  tiennent  au  pays  que  par  les  appointemeuts 
et  I'emolument  de  leurs  terres,  et  qui  par  la  disproportion  des 
conditions  ne  s'engagent  pas  davantage.  Si  le  Roi  fait  passer 
d'autres  filles  ou  femmes  veuves  de  I'Ancienne  a  la  Nouvelle- 
France,  il  est  bon  de  les  faire  accompagner  d'un  certificat  de  leur 
Cure  ou  du  juge  du  lieu  qui  fasse  counaitre  qu'elles  sont  libres 
et  en  etat  d'etre  mariees,  sans  quoi  les  Ecclesiastiques  d'ici  font 
difficulte  de  leur  conferer  ce  sacrement ;  a  la  verite  ce  n'est  pas 
sans  raison,  2  ou  3  doubles  manages  s'etant  reconnus  ici ;  on 
pourrait  prendre  la  meme  precaution  pour  les  hommes  veufs 

Lettre  de  Talon  a  Colbert. 
(JExtrait.)      Archives    de    la    Marine. 

2  Novembre,  1671 
.  .  .  .  Le  nombre  des  enfants  nes  cette  annee  est  de  6  a  700. 
....  J'estime  qu'il  n'est  plus  necessaire  de  faire  passer  des 
demoiselles,  en  ayant  re^u  cette  annee  quinze  ainsi  qualifiees  au 
lieu  de  quatre  que  je  demandais  pour  faire  des  alliances  avec  lee 
officiers  ou  les  principaux  habitants  d'ici 


APPENDIX.  419 

F. 

CHATEAU   ST.  LOUIS. 

Tnis  structure,  destined  to  be  famous  in  Canadian  history, 
was  originally  built  by  Samuel  de  Champlain.  The  cellar  still 
remains,  under  the  wooden  platform  of  the  present  Durham 
Terrace.  Behind  the  chateau  was  the  area  of  the  fort,  now 
an  open  square.  In  the  most  famous  epoch  of  its  history,  the 
time  of  Frontenac,  the  chfiteau  was  old  and  dilapidated,  and 
the  fort  was  in  a  sad  condition.  "  The  walls  are  all  down," 
writes  Frontenac  in  1681 ;  "there  are  neither  gates  nor  guard- 
house ;  the  whole  place  is  open."  On  this  the  new  inteudant, 
Meules,  was  ordered  to  report  what  repairs  were  needed.  Mean- 
while La  BaiTe  had  come  to  replace  Frontenac,  whose  com- 
plaints he  repeats.  He  says  that  the  wall  is  in  ruin  for  a 
distance  of  a  hundred  and  eighty  toises.  "  The  workmen  ask 
6000  francs  to  repair  it.  I  could  get  it  done  in  France  for 
2000.  The  cost  frightens  me.  I  have  done  nothing."  {La  Barre 
ail  3Enistre,  1682.)  Meules,  however,  received  orders  to  do 
what  ■was  necessary ;  and,  two  years  later,  he  reports  that  he 
has  rebuilt  the  wall,  repaired  the  fort,  and  erected  a  building, 
intended  at  first  for  the  council,  within  the  area.  This  building 
stood  near  the  entrance  of  the  present  St.  Louis  Street,  and  was 
enclosed  by  an  extension  of  the  fort  wall. 

Denonville  next  appears  on  the  scene,  with  his  usual  disposi 
tion  to  fault-finding.  The  so-called  chateau,  he  says  (168;))  is 
built  of  wood,  "and  is  dry  as  a  match.  There  is  a  place  where 
with  a  bundle  of  straw  it  could  be  set  on  fire  at  any  time ;  .  .  . 
some  of  the  gates  will  not  close ;  there  is  no  watch-tower,  and 
no  place  to  shoot  from."  {Denonville  au  Ministre,  20  Aout, 
1685.) 

When  Frontenac  resumed  the  government,  he  was  much 
disturbed  at  the  condition  of  the  chateau,  and  begged  for  slate 
to  cover  the  roof,  as  the  rain  was  coming  in  everywhere.  At 
the  same  time  the  intendant,  Champigny,  reports  it  to  be  rotten 
and  ruinous.  This  was  in  the  year  made  famous  by  the  English 
attack,  and  the  dramatic  scene  in  the  hall  of  the  old  building 


420  APPENDIX. 

when  Frontenac  defied  the  envoy  of  Admiral  Phipps,  whose 
fleet  lay  in  the  river  below.  In  the  next  summer,  1691,  Fron- 
tenac again  asks  for  slate  to  cover  the  roof,  and  for  15,000  or 
20,000  francs  to  repair  his  mansion.  In  the  next  year  the  king 
promises  to  send  him  12,000  francs,  in  instalments.  Frontenac 
acknowledges  the  favor ;  and  says  that  he  will  erect  a  new  build- 
ing, and  try  in  the  mean  time  not  to  be  bm'ied  under  the  old  one, 
as  he  expects  to  be  every  time  the  wind  blows  hard.  {Fron- 
tenac au  Ministre,  15  Sept.,  1692.)  A  misunderstanding  with 
the  intendant,  who  had  control  of  the  money,  interrupted  the 
work.  Frontenac  writes  the  next  year  that  he  had  been  obliged 
to  send  for  carpenters,  during  the  night,  to  prop  up  the  chateau, 
lest  he  should  be  crushed  under  the  ruins.  The  wall  of  the  fort 
was  however  strengthened,  and  partly  rebuilt  to  the  height  of 
sixteen  feet,  at  a  cost  of  13,629  francs.  It  was  a  time  of  war, 
and  a  fresh  attack  was  expected  from  the  English.  {Fron- 
tenac et  Champigny  au  Ministre,  4  Nov.,  1693.)  In  the  year 
1854,  the  workmen  employed  in  demolishing  a  part  of  this  wall, 
adjoining  the  garden  of  the  chateau,  found  a  copper  plate  bear- 
ing an  inscription  in  Latin  as  follows :  "  In  the  year  of  Redemp- 
tion 1693,  under  the  reign  of  the  most  august,  most  invincible, 
and  most  Christian  King  of  France,  Louis  the  Great,  fourteenth 
of  that  name,  the  most  excellent  Louis  de  Buade,  Count  of  Fron- 
tenac, governor  for  the  second  time  of  all  New  France,  seeing 
that  the  rebellious  inhabitants  of  New  England,  who  three  years 
ago  were  repulsed,  routed,  and  completely  vanquished  by  him 
when  they  besieged  this  town  of  Quebec,  are  threatening  to  renew 
the  siege  this  very  year,  has  caused  to  be  built,  at  the  expense  of 
the  king,  this  citadel,  with  the  fortifications  adjoining  thereto, 
for  the  defence  of  the  country,  for  the  security  of  the  people,  and 
for  confounding  yet  again  that  nation  perfiidious  alike  towards  ita 
God  and  its  lawful  king.  And  he  [^Frontenac']  has  placed  here 
this  first  stone." 

A  year  later,  the  rebuilding  of  the  chateau  was  begun  in 
earnest.  Frontenac  says  that  nothing  but  a  miracle  has  saved 
him  from  being  buried  under  its  ruins ;  that  he  has  pulled  every 
thing  down,  and  begun  again  from  the  foundation,  but  that  the 
money  has  given  out.  [Frontenac  au  Ministre,  4  Nov.,  1694.) 
Accordingly,  he  and  the  intendant  sold  six  licenses  for  the  fur 


APPENDIX.  421 

trade ;  but  at  a  rate  unusually  low,  for  they  bi  ought  only  4,400 
francs.  The  king,  hearing  of  this,  sent  6,000  more.  Frontenac 
is  profuse  in  thanks ;  and  at  the  same  time  begs  for  another 
(3000  francs,  "  to  complete  a  work  which  is  the  ornament  and 
beauty  of  the  city"  (1G9G).  The  minister  sent  8,000  more, 
which  was  soon  gone ;  and  Frontenac  drew  on  the  royal  treas- 
urer for  5,047  in  addition.  The  intendant  complains  of  his 
extravagance,  and  says  that  he  will  have  nothing  but  perfection ; 
and  that,  besides  the  chateau,  he  has  insisted  on  building  two 
guard-houses,  with  Mansard  roofs,  at  the  two  sides  of  the 
gate.  "  I  must  do  as  he  says,"  adds  the  intendant,  "  or  there 
will  be  a  quarrel."  (^Champigny  au  Ministre,  13  Oct.,  1697.) 
In  a  letter  written  two  days  after,  Frontenac  speaks  with  great 
complacency  of  his  chateau,  and  asks  for  another  6,000  francs 
to  finish  it.  As  the  case  was  urgent,  he  sold  six  more  licenses, 
at  1,000  francs  each;  but  he  died  too  soon  to  see  the  completion 
of  his  favorite  work  (1698).  The  new  chateau  was  not  finished 
before  1700,  and  even  then  it  had  no  cistern.  In  a  pen-sketch 
of  Quebec  on  a  manuscript  map  of  1699,  preserved  in  the  Depot 
des  Cartes  de  la  Marine,  the  new  chateau  is  distinctly  repre- 
sented. In  front  is  a  gallery  or  balcony,  resting  on  a  wall  and 
buttresses  at  the  edge  of  the  cliff.  Above  the  gallery  is  a  range 
of  high  windows  along  the  face  of  the  building,  and  over  these 
a  range  of  small  windows  and  a  Mansard  roof.  In  the  middle  is 
a  porch  opening  on  the  gallery ;  and  on  the  left  extends  a  bat- 
tery, on  the  ground  now  occupied  by  a  garden  along  the  brink 
of  the  cliff.  A  water-color  sketch  of  the  chateau  taken  in  1804, 
from  the  land-side,  by  William  INIorrison,  Jr.,  is  in  my  posses- 
sion. The  building  appears  to  have  been  completely  remod- 
elled in  the  interval.  It  is  two  stories  in  height ;  the  Mansard 
roof  is  gone,  and  a  row  of  attic  windows  surmounts  the  second 
story.  In  1809  it  was  again  remodelled,  at  a  cost  of  ten  thou- 
sand pounds  sterling.  A  third  story  was  added ;  and  the  build- 
ing, resting  on  the  buttresses  which  still  remain  under  the 
balustrade  of  Durham  Terrace,  had  an  imposing  effect  when 
seen  from  the  river.      It  was  destroyed  by  fire  in  1834. 


422  APPENDIX 


G. 

TRADE  AND  mDUSTRY. 

(Extrait.)     Arcldves  de  la  Marine. 

Lettre  de  Denonville  au  Ministke. 

A  Quebec  le  13  Novembbe,  168&. 
.  .  .  J'ai  remarqu^,  Monseigneur  que  les  femmes  et  filles,  y 
sont  assez  paresseuses  par  le  manque  de  uaenus  ouvrages  a  se 
donner,  il  y  a  un  peu  trop  de  luxe  dans  la  pauvrete  gdnerale  des 
demoiselles  ou  soi  disantes ;  les  menus  ouvrages  de  capots  et  de 
chemises  de  traite  les  occupent  un  peu,  pendant  I'hiver,  et  leur 
font  gaguer  quelque  chose,  mais  cela  ne  dure  pas,  I'endroit  de 
pauvrete  de  ce  pays,  est  le  manque  de  toilles  et  de  serges  ou 
drajjs,  cepeudant  c'est  ici  le  pays  du  moude  le  plus  propre  a 
faire  des  chanvres,  et  du  fil,  et  par  consequent  de  la  toille,  si  on 
s'en  voulait  donner  la  peine.  Mr.  Talon  s'y  est  donn^  du  soin 
pour  cela,  aussi  y  a-t-il  une  cote  qui  est  celle  de  Beaupre,  ou  on 
en  fait,  mais  ce  n'est ,  que  chez  quelques  habitans.  J'ai  fort 
exorte  la  dessus  tous  les  peuples  d'y  travailler,  pour  y  reussir,  il 
faut  y  apporter  de  la  severite  et  de  I'utilit^  si  il  y  a  moyen,  ce 
dernier  avec  le  temps  et  I'iudustrie  arrivera,  et  le  premier  de  ma 
part  ne  manquera  pas,  je  n'ai  pu  avoir  d'autre  raison,  pourquoi 
on  ne  faisait  point  de  chanvres,  si  ce  n'est  que  Ton  n'avait  pas 
assez  de  temps,  a  cause  que  les  saisons  de  labourer,  semer  et 
recueillir  sont  trop  com'tes,  car  en  ce  pays  le  bled  ne  se  seme 
qu'en  Avril  et  May.  Si  le  Roy  voulait  acheter  les  chanvres  un 
peu  plus  clier  jusques  a  ce  que  Ton  fut  en  train,  cela  pourait  les 
animer,  avec  un  ordre  a  chacun  d'en  fouruir  une  certaine  quan- 
tite  on  pourra  les  faire  agir,  si  outre  cela  on  avait  quelques 
ouvriers  tisserands  a  distribuer  par  paroisses,  et  qui  ne  fussent  a 
la  charge  du  peuple  que  pour  leurs  nouritures,  ce  serait  un 
moyen  pour  faire  apprendre  aux  enfants.  Les  Cures  nous  ren- 
draient  compte  du  nombre  de  ceux  qui  apprendraient  a  preparer 
la  chanvre  et  fillasse,  et  a  faire  de  la  toille :  avant  que  d'en 
venir  la  il  faudrait  montrer  a  filer  aux  filles  et  aux  femmes,  car 
il  y  en  a  tres  peu,  qui  sachent  tenir  le  fuseau,  c'est  en  cela  que 
les  filles  de  la  congregation  de  Montreal  feront  merveilles.     II 


APPENDIX.  423 

nous  est  venu  de  la  part  de  Mr.  Arnoul  deux  bariques  de  graine 
de  chanvre  que  je  ferai  distribuer  et  dont  je  me  ferai  rendre 
oompte. 

Je  croyais,  Monseigneur,  une  ordonnance  necessaire  encore  a 
faire  pour  engager  chaque  habitant  a  avoir  deux  ou  trois  brebis, 
n'y  en  ayant  pas  sufRsament  dans  le  pays. 

....  II  n'est  pas  possible  qu'on  ne  puisse  faire  une  verrerie 
eu  ce  pays,  la  plus  grande  affaire  sont  les  ouvriers  qui  enchdris- 
sent  tout  car  Ton  donne  ordiuairement  et  communement  a 
chaque  ouvrier  par  jour  quarente  sols  nouris,  cinquante  sols  et 
un  ecu,  et  tous  ces  maraux  n'en  sont  pas  plus  riches  car  ils  met- 
tent  tout  a  boire. 

Sign^:  Le  M*""*  de  Denonville. 


Memoire    a    Monseigneub    lb     Marquis    de     Seionelay,     bvk 
l'etabltssement  du   commerce   en  Canada,  peesente  par  les 

SlEURS    CuALONS   ET    RiVERIN. 

(Extrait.)     Archives  de  la  Marine. 

(Joint  a  la  lettre  du  Sieur  de  Riverin,  du  7  Feveier,  1686.) 
....  Kn  effet  si  cette  colonic  n'a  pas  avancd  depuis  le  temps 
de  son  ^tablissement,  c'est  que  les  habitants  qui  la  composent  ou 
par  leur  negligence  ou  par  leur  peu  d'experience  dans  les 
affaires,  ou  enfin  par  leur  impuissance  ne  se  sont  pas  mis  en 
estat  de  se  servir  des  avantages  qu'elle  renferme  en  elle-mesme, 
et  des  moyens  qu'elle  leur  fournit  pour  un  commerce  solide  et 
considerable. 

Car  il  ne  faut  pas  regarder  la  traitte  des  pelleteries  h.  laquelle 
seule  on  s'est  attachd  jusqu'a  jjresent  et  qui  finira  avec  le  temps 
par  la  destruction  des  bestes,  comme  un  moyen  propre  a  son 
avancement,  au  contraire  I'expc^rience  a  fait  connoistre  qu'elle 
rend  les  habitans  fain^ans  et  vagabonds,  qu'elle  les  ddtourne  de 
la  culture  des  terres,  de  la  pesche,  de  la  navigation  et  des  autrea 
entreprises. 


424  APPENDIX. 


MeMOIRE     DU     Si  EUR     DE      CaTALOGNE,     lNG:feNIECR,    8UR     LE8   FLANS 
DES    UAUITATIONS    ET   SeIGNEUKIES     DES    GoUVERNEMENS    DE    QuB- 

BEC,  DE  Montreal  et  di.s  Trois-Rivieres. 

(Extrait.  ^)     Archives  de  la  Marine. 

7  NOVEMBRE,  1712 

Observations  sur  V etablissement.  —  Que  par  rapport  a  la 
grande  etendue  qu'on  a  donnee  a  retablissement,  il  n'y  a  pas  le 
quart  des  ouvriers  qu'il  faudroit  pour  bien  ^tendre  et  cultiver  les 
terres. 

Que  les  laboureurs  ne  se  donnent  pas  assez  de  soin  pour  cul- 
tiver les  terres,  etant  certain  que  la  semence  d'un  minot  de  ble, 
seme  sur  de  la  terre  cultivee  comme  en  France,  produira  plus 
que  deux  autres  comme  on  seme  en  Canada. 

Que  comme  les  saisons  sont  trop  courtes  et  souvent  tres 
mauvaises,  il  serait  a  souhaiter  que  I'Eglise  permit  les  travaux 
indisi^ensables,  que  les  fetes  d'ete  obligent  de  chomer,  etant  tres 
vrai  que  depuis  le  mois  de  Mai  que  les  semences  commencent 
jusques  a  la  fin  de  Septembre,  il  n'y  a  pas  90  journees  de  travail, 
par  rapport  aux  fetes  et  au  mauvais  temps.  C'est  pourtant 
dans  cette  espace  que  roule  la  solidite  de  cet  etablissement.  II 
tiiudrait  assujetir  les  habitans  negligeus  a  travailler  a  la  culture 
des  terres,  en  les  privant  des  voyages  qui  les  dispeusent  de  tra- 
vailler, et  cela  parce  qu'un  voyage  de  deux  ou  trois  mois  leur 
produit  30  ou  40  escus  en  perdant  la  saison  du  travail  a  la  terre, 
qui  les  fait  demeurer  en  friche. 

Les  obliger  de  semer  quantite  de  chanvre  et  lin  qui  vient  en 
ce  pays  plus  gros  qu'en  Europe.  Us  s'en  relachent  parceque, 
disent-ils,  il  y  a  trop  de  peine  et  de  soins  a  le  mettre  en  oeuvre. 
II  est  vrai  qu'il  y  a  peu  de  gens  qui  s'entendent  et  qui  le  font 
payer  bien  cber. 

Assujetir  les  babitans  a  nourrir  et  a  elever  des  betes  a  coruch, 
au  lieu  du  grand  nombre  de  chevaux  qui  ruineut  le  Pacage  et 
qui  entraiuent  les  babitans  a  des  grosses  depenses,  tant  que  pour 
leurs  equipages  qui  sont  fort  chers  que  par  la  grande  quantite  de 
fourages  et  de  grains  qu'il  faut  pendant  7  ou  8  mois  de  Tannee, 

^  This  m^moire  is  70  pages  in  length. 


APPENDIX.  425 

^tant  tres  vrai  que  Tentretien  d'un  cheval  coute  autant  que  deux 
hoeufs. 

Obliger  les  Seigneurs  pour  faciliter  retablissement  de  leurs 
Seigneuries  de  douiier  sutfisamment  dea  terres  pour  commencer 
a  un  prix  modique  et  a  construire  des  moulins  et  les  commodiles 
publiques  ;  plusieurs  consomment  le  tiers  de  leur  temps  a  ailer 
faires  leur  farines  a  15  ou  20  lieues,  et  que  les  Seigneurs,  des  que 
les  Seigneuries  sont  Stabiles,  concedent  des  terres  sans  que  lea 
tenanciers  soient  obliges  de  payer  des  rentes  qu'apres  6  aus  que 
les  terres  soient  en  valeur. 

Ordouuer  au  grand  voyer  de  donner  son  application  a  faire 
^tablir  les  chemins  et  pouts  necessaices  au  public,  qui  est  un« 
necessite  fort  essentielle. 

Obliger  les  liabitans  ou  ceux  qui  sont  en  etat,  de  faire  des 
greuiers  pourque  cbacun  filt  en  etat  de  conserver  du  grain  pour 
deux  annees  ;  cela  fait  une  fois,  I'abondance  se  trouvera  toujours 
au  Canada  au  lieu  que  la  plupart,  faute  de  cette  commodite,  eu 
manquent  tres  souvent,  etant  oblige  de  le  vendre  a  vil  prix. 

Chatier  severement  tons  ceux  qui  sont  convaincus  de  fraude, 
mauvaise  foi  et  imposture,  qui  est  un  mal  qui  commence  a  etre 
bien  en  racine  et  qui  indubitablement  le  privera  de  tout  com- 
merce, les  marcbands  des  iles  et  de  Plaisance  s'en  etant  deja 
plaints. 

Que  comme  il  n'y  a  pas  de  notaires  dans  tons  les  lieux,  que  les 
conventions  et  les  marches  faits  en  presence  de  deux  temoins 
vaudront  pendant  un  temps  fixe. 

II  serait  a  souliaiter  que  S.  M.  voulut  etablir  dans  chaque  ville 
des  conseils  a  juger  sans  frais  sur  le  fait  du  commerce  et  des 
affaires  qui  n'entrent  pas  dans  la  coutume.  Ces  sortes  de  pro- 
cMures  aussi  bien  que  les  autres,  ne  prennent  aucune  fin  que 
lorsque  les  parties  n'ont  plus  d'argent  pour  plaidei',  qui  est  la 
mine  des  families. 

Engager  un  certain  nombre  de  gens  du  pays  a  etudier  le 
pilotage,  meme  les  ofBciers  des  troupes,  particulierement  du 
ileuve  St.  Laurent  qui  est  tres  dangereux,  la  plupart  du  temps 
ne  se  trouvant  pas  un  seul  pilote  en  Canada,  et  cependant  on 
commence  a  donner  dans  la  construction  ;  le  capitaine  du  Port 
et  M.  Duplcssis  ayaut  mis  un  vaisseau  de~3  a  400  tonueaux  sur 
les  chantiers. 


426  APrENDix. 

Cong^dier  de  temps  en  temps  des  soldats  en  leiir  permettant 
de  se  marier,  apres  qu'ils  auront  un  etablissement. 

II  s'est  ^tabli  une  coutume  dans  ce  pays  autoris^e  par  le 
magistrat,  qui  meme  ne  me  parait  pas  naturelle,  de  laisser  des 
bestiaux  a  I'abaudou  qui  la  plupart  gatent  les  grains  et  les 
prairies,  n'y  ayant  presque  point  de  terres  closes  qui  causent  des 
coutestes  et  de  la  mesiutelligence  entre  les  voisins ;  pour  obvier 
a  cela  il  faudrait  qu'il  y  eut  des  gardiens  pour  chaque  nature 
d'animaux  pour  les  mener  dans  les  communes,  car  tel  qui  n'a 
pas  un  pouce  de  terre,  envoie  ses  animaux  paitre  sur  les  terres 
de  ses  voisins,  en  disant  que  I'abandon  est  donne ;  Si  S.  M.  vou- 
lait  couper  la  raciue  a  une  pepiniere  de  proces  et  de  mesiutelli- 
gence entre  les  Seigneurs  et  habitans,  il  serait  a  souhaiter  qu'elle 
voulut  donner  une  ordonnance  tendante  a  ce  que  les  Seigneuriea 
et  autres  concessians  demeureraieut  dans  les  limites  q-u'elles  se 
trouvent  a  present,  sans  avoir  egard  aux  litres  portes  dans  les 
contrats,  pour  la  quantity  et  les  rumbs  de  vent  qui  y  sont  an- 
nonces,  etant  a  remarquer  que  les  anciens  Seigneurs  et  habitans 
se  sont  etablis  de  bonne  foi,  que  les  terres  ont  ^te  limitees  par 
des  arpenteurs  peu  intelligens,  et  aujourd'hui  que  la  chicane  est 
en  vogue,  chacun  veut  suivre  les  termes  de  son  contrat  qui  ten- 
dent  la  plupart  a  I'impossible.  Mr.  Raudot  a  donne  une  ordon- 
nance a  ce  sujet  pour  I'ile  de  Montreal  seulement. 

Comme  la  plupart  des  rues  de  Quebec  et  de  Montreal  sont 
souvent  impraticables,  tant  par  les  rochers  que  par  les  bourbiers, 
s'il  plaisait  a  S.  M.  d'ordonner  que  les  deniers  qui  provienneut 
des  amendes  et  certaines  confiscations  seraient  employes  a  les 
mettre  en  etat. 

Que  la  subordination  du  vassal  a  son  Seigneur  n'est  point  objet 
a  .     Cette  erreur  vient  qu'il  a  6te  accorde  des  Sei- 

gneuries  a  des  roturiers  qui  n'ont  pas  su  mainteuir  le  droit  que  la 
raison  leur  donne  a  I'egard  de  leur  co-sujets,  meme  les  officiers 
de  milice  qui  leur  sont  dependants,  n'ont  la  plupart  aucun  egard 
pour  leur  superiorite  et  veulent  dans  les  occasions  passer  pour 
independants. 

II  serait  a  souhaiter  que  S.  M.  voulftt  envoyer  dans  ce  pays 
toute  sorte  d'artisans,  particulierement  des  ouvriers  en  cordages 
et  filages,  des  potiers  et  un  verrier,  et  ils  trouveraieut  a  s'occuper. 
Si  S.  M.  Youlait  faire  envoyer  en  marchandises  une  partie  dei 


APPENDIX.  427 

appointemens  de  Messrs.  les  officiers,  cela  leur  adoucirait  la 
durete  qu'eux  seuls  trouvent  dans  le  pays,  par  la  grande  chertd 
des  marchandises  causae  par  le  mauvais  retour  de  la  monnaie  de 
cartes  qui  fait  acheter  3  et  4  pour  100. 

Veu:  Vaudreuil. 

Veu:  Begon.  Cataloqkk 


H. 

LETTER  OF  FATHER  CARHEIL. 

Lbttke  du  Pi;RE  Etienne  de  Carheil,  de    la   Compagnib  bb 
Jesus,  a  l'Intendant  de  Champignt. 

{Extrait.'^)     Archives  Nationales. 

A    MiCHILIMAKINA,  LE    80    d'AoDST,    1702. 

....  Nos  Missions  sont  reduites  a  une  telle  extr^mit^,  que 
nous  ne  pouvons  plus  les  soutenir  centre  une  multitude  inliuie  de 
desordres,  de  brutalitez,  de  violences,  d'injustices,  d'impietez, 
d'impudicitez,  d'insolences,  de  m^pris,  d'insultes  que  I'infame  et 
funeste  traitte  d'eau-de-vie  y  cause  universellement  dans  toutea 
les  nations  d'icy  haut,  oil  Ton  vient  la  faire,  allant  de  villages  en 
villages  et  courant  les  lacs  avec  une  quantite  prodigieuse  de 
barils,  sans  garder  aucune  mesure.  Si  Sa  Majeste  avoit  veu 
une  seule  fois  ce  qui  se  passe  et  icy  et  a  Montreal,  dans  tous  les 
temps  qu'ou  y  fait  cette  malheureuse  traitte,je  suis  sur  qu'elle  ne 
balanceroit  pas  un  moment,  des  la  premiere  vue,  a  la  defFendre 
pour  jamais  sous  les  plus  rigoureuses  peines. 

Dans  le  desespoir  ou  nous  sommes,  il  ne  nous  reste  point 
d'autre  party  a  prendre  que  celui  de  quitter  nos  Missions  et  de 
les  abandouner  aux  traittants  d'eau-de-vie,  pour  y  etablir  le 
domaine  de  leur  traitte,  de  I'ivrognerie  et  de  I'irapuretd.  Cost 
ce  que  nous  aliens  proposer  h  nos  superieurs  en  Canada  et  eu 
France,  y  etant  contraints  par  I'^'tat  d'inutilite  et  d'imj^uissance 
de  faire  aucuu  fruit  oil  Ton  nous  a  reduits  par  la  permission  de 
cette  deplorable  traitte,  permission  que  Ton  n'a  obtenue  de  Sa 
Majeste  que  sous  un  pretexte  aparent  de  raisons  que  Ton  scait 

1  This  letter  is  45  pages  long. 


428  APPENDIX. 

etre  fausses,  permission  qu'elle  n'accorderoit  point,  si  ceux  aux- 
quels  elle  se  raporte  de  la  verity  la  lui  fesoient  connoistre  comme 
ils  la  connoissent  eux-mcmes  et  tout  le  Canada  avec  eux,  per- 
mission eutin  qui  est  le  plus  grand  mal  et  le  principe  de  tous  les 
maux  qui  arrivent  presentement  au  pays,  et  surtout  des  nau- 
frages  dont  on  n'entendoit  point  encore  parler  ici  et  que  nous 
apprenons  arriver  maintenant  presque  touttes  les  annees  ou  dans 
la  venue  ou  dans  le  retour  de  nos  vaisseaux  en  France,  par  une 
juste  punition  de  Dieu  qui  fait  perir  par  I'eau  ce  que  Ton  avoit 
mal  acquis  par  I'eau-de-vie,  ou  qui  entend  empecher  le  transport 
pour  pr^venir  le  mauvais  usage  qu'on  en  feroit.  Si  cette  per- 
mission n'e^t  revoquee  par  une  defFense  contraire,  nous  n'aurona 
plus  que  faire  de  demeurer  dans  aucune  de  nos  Missions  d'icy 
baut,  pour  j  perdre  le  reste  de  notre  vie,  et  touttes  nos  peines 
dans  une  pui'e  iuutilite  sous  I'empire  d'une  continuelle  ivrognerie 
et  d'une  impuretd  universelle  qu'on  ne  permet  pas  moins  aux 
traitteurs  d'eau-de-vie  que  la  traitte  meme  dont  elle  est  Taccom- 
pagnement  et  la  suite.  Si  Sa  Majeste  veut  sauver  nos  missions 
et  soutenir  I'etablissement  de  la  Religion,  comme  nous  ne  dou- 
tons  point  qu'elle  le  veuille,  nous  la  suplions  tres-humblement  de 
croire,  ce  qui  est  tres  veritable,  qu'il  n'y  a  point  d'autre  moyen 
de  le  pouvoir  faire  que  d'abolir  les  deux  infiimes  commerces  qui 
les  ont  reduites  a  la  necessity  prochaine  de  perir  et  qui  ne  tar- 
deront  pas  a  achever  de  les  perdre,  s'ils  ne  sont  au  plus  tost 
abolis  par  ses  ordres  et  mis  hors  d'etat  d'etre  r^tablis.  Le  pre- 
mier est  le  commerce  de  I'eau-de-vie ;  le  second  est  le  commerce 
des  femmes  sauvages  avec  les  Fran9ois,  qui  sont  tous  deux  aussy 
publics  Fun  que  I'autre,  sans  que  nous  puissions  y  remedier,  pour 
n'estre  pas  aj^puyez  des  commandans  qui,  bien  loin  de  les  vouloir 
empecher  par  les  remontrances  que  nous  leur  faisons,  les  exer- 
cent  eux-memes  avec  plus  de  liberte  que  leurs  inferieurs,  et  les 
autorisent  tellement  par  leur  exemple  qu'en  le  regardant  on  s'en 
fait  une  permission  g^n^rale  et  une  assurance  d'irapunite  qui  les 
rend  communs  a  tout  ce  qui  vient  icy  de  Francois  en  traitte,  de 
sorte  que  tous  les  villages  de  nos  Sauvages  ne  sont  plus  que  des 
cabarets  pour  Tivrognerie  et  des  Sodomes  pour  I'impurete,  d'ou 
il  faut  que  nous  nous  retirions,  les  abandonnant  a  la  juste  colere 
de  Dieu  et  a  ses  vengeances. 

Vous  voyez  par  la  que,  de  quel  que  maniere  qu'on  etablisse  le 


APPENDIX.  429 

commerce  Francois  avec  les  Sauvages,  si  Ton  veut  nous  retenir 
parmi  eux,  nous  y  conserver  et  nous  y  soutenir  en  quality  de 
missionnaires  clans  le  libre  exercice  de  nos  fonctions  avec 
esperance  d'y  faii'e  du  fruit,  il  faut  nous  delivrer  des  comman- 
dans  et  de  leurs  garnisons  qui,  bieu  loin  d'estre  necessaires,  sont 
au  contraire  si  pei'nicieuses  que  nous  pouvons  dire  avec  Y6vit6 
qu'elles  sont  le  plus  grand  mal  de  nos  missions,  ne  servant  qu'^ 
nuire  a  la  traitte  ordinaire  des  voyageurs  et  a  Tavancement  de  la 
Foy.  Depuis  qu'elles  sont  venues  icy  haut,  nous  n'y  avons  jjIus 
veu  que  corruption  universelle  qu'elles  ont  r6pandues  par  leur 
vie  scandaleuse  dans  tons  les  esprits  de  ces  nations  qui  en  sont 
pr^sentement  infectt^es.  Tout  le  service  pretendu  qu'on  veut 
faire  croire  au  Roy  qu'elles  rendent  se  r^duit  a  qnatre  princi- 
pales  occupations  dont  nous  vous  prions  iustamment  de  vouloir 
bien  informer  le  Roy. 

La  premiere  est  de  tenir  un  cabaret  public  d'eau-de-vie  ou  ila 
la  traittent  continuellement  aux  Sauvages  qui  ne  cessent  point 
de  s'enyvrer,  quelques  opositions  que  nous  y  puissions  faire. 
C'est  en  vain  que  nous  leur  parlous  pour  les  arreter  ;  nous  n'y 
gagnons  rien  que  d'etre  accusez  de  nous  oposer  nous-memes  au 
Service  du  Roy  en  voidant  empecher  une  traitte  qui  leur  est 
permise. 

La  seconde  occupation  des  soldats  est  d'estre  envoyez  d'uu 
poste  a  I'autre  par  les  Commandans,  pour  y  porter  leurs  mar 
chandises  et  leur  eau-de-vie,  apres  s'etre  accommodes  ensemble, 
sans  que  les  uns  et  les  autres  ayent  d'autre  soin  que  celuy  de 
s'entr'ayder  mutuellement  dans  leur  commerce,  et  afin  que  cela 
s'execute  plus  facilement  des  deux  costez  comme  ils  le  souhait- 
ent,  ils  faut  que  les  commandans  se  ferment  les  yeux  pour  user 
de  connivence  et  ne  voir  aucuu  des  desordres  de  leur  soldats, 
quelques  visibles,  publics  et  scaudaleux  qu'ils  soient,  et  il  faut 
reciproquemeiit  que  les  soldats,  outre  qu'ils  traittent  leurs 
propres  marchandises,  se  fassent  encore  les  traitteurs  de  celles 
de  leurs  Commandans  qui  souvent  memo  les  obligent  d'en 
acheter  d'eux  pour  leur  permettre  d'aller  ou  ils  veulent. 

Leur  troisieme  occupation  est  de  faire  de  leur  fort  un  lieu  que 
j'ay  honte  d'apeler  par  son  nom,  ou  les  femmes  out  apris  que 
leurs  corps  pouvoient  tenir  lieu  de  marchandises  et  qu'ellea 
seroient  mieux  revues  que  le  castor,  de  sorte  que  c'est  presente- 


430  APPENDIX. 

ment.  le  commerce  le  plus  ordinaire,  le  plus  continuel  et  le  plus 
en  vogue.  Quelques  efforts  que  puissent  faire  tons  les  mission- 
naires  pour  decrier  et  pour  I'abolir,  au  lieu  de  diminue'r,  il  aug- 
mente  et  se  multiplie  tous  les  jours  de  plus  en  plus  ;  tous  les  sol- 
dats  tiennent  table  ouverte  a  touttes  les  femmes  de  leur  con- 
naissance  dans  leur  maison ;  depuis  le  matin  jusqu'au  soir,  elles 
y  passent  les  journees  entieres,  les  unes  apres  les  autres,  assises 
a  leur  feu  et  souvent  surleur  lit  dans  des  entretiens  et  des  actions 
propre  de  leur  commerce  qui  ne  s'acheve  ordinairement  que  la 
nuit,  la  foule  etant  trop  grande  pendant  la  journee  pour  qu'ils 
puissent  Tachever,  quoyque  souvent  aussy  ils  s'entrelaissent  une 
maison  vide  de  monde  pour  n'en  pas  differer  I'achevement  jus- 
qu'a  la  nuit. 

La  quatrieme  occupation  des  soldats  est  celle  du  jeu  qui  a 
lieu  dans  les  tems  oii  les  traitteurs  se  rassemblent ;  il  y  va  quel- 
quefois  a  un  tel  point  que  n'etans  pas  contens  d'y  passer  le  jour, 
ils  y  passent  encore  la  nuit  entiere,  et  il  u'arrive  meme  que  trop 
souvent  dans  I'ardeur  de  I'aplication  qu'ils  ne  se  souviement  pas. 
ou  s'ils  s'en  souviennent,  qu'ils  meprisent  de  garder  les  postes. 
Mais  ce  qui  augmente  en  cela  leur  desordre,  c'est  qu'un  attache- 
ment  si  opiniutre  au  jeu  n'est  presque  jamais  sans  une  ivrognerie 
commune  a  tous  les  joueurs,  et  que  I'ivrognerie  est  presque  tou- 
jours  suivie  de  querelles  qui  s'excitent  entre  eux  lesquelles 
venant  a  paroitre  jiubliquement  aux  yeux  des  Sauvages,  causent 
parmi  eux  trois  grands  scandales :  le  premier  de  les  voir  ivres,  le 
second  de  les  voir  s'entrebatre  avec  fureur  les  uns  contre  les 
autres  jusqu'k  prendre  des  fusils  en  main  pour  s'entretuer,  le 
troisieme  de  voir  que  les  IMissionnaires  n'y  peuvent  apporter 
aucun  remede. 

Voila,  Monseigneur,  les  quatre  seules  ocupations  des  garni- 
sons  que  Ton  a  tenues  ici  pendant  tant  d'annees.  Si  ces  sortes 
d'ocupations  peuvent  s'apeler  le  service  du  Roy,  j'avoue  qu' elles 
luy  ont  actuellement  et  toujours  rendu  quelqu'un  de  ces  quatre 
services,  mais  je  n'en  ai  point  veu  d'autres  que  ces  quatre-la  ;  et 
par  consequent,  si  on  ne  juge  pas  que  ce  soit  la  des  services 
necessaires  au  Roy,  il  n'y  a  point  eu  jusqu'a  present  de  n^ces- 
sit^  de  les  tenir  icy,  et  apres  leur  rapel,  il  n'y  en  aura  point  de 
les  y  r^tablir. 

Cependant  comme  cette  n^cessit^  pre^endue  des  Garnisons  est 


APPENDIX.  431 

f'unique  pretexte  que  Ton  prend  pour  y  envoyer  des  Com- 
mandans,  nous  vous  prions,  Monseigneur,  d'etre  bien  persuade 
de  la  faussete  de  ce  prdtexte,  afin  que,  sous  ces  spdcieuses  apar- 
ences  du  service  du  Roy,  on  ne  se  fasse  pas  una  obligation  d'eu 
envoyer,  puisque  les  Commandans  ne  viennent  icy  que  pour  y 
faii"e  la  traitte  de  concert  avec  leurs  soldats  sans  se  mettre  en 
peine  de  tout  le  reste.  lis  n'ont  de  liaison  avec  les  Mission- 
naires  que  par  les  endroits  ou  ils  les  croient  utiles  pour  leur 
temporel,  et  hors  de  la  ils  leur  sont  contraires  des  qu'ils  veulent 
s'opposer  au  desordre  qui,  ne  s'accordant  ny  avec  le  service  de 
Dieu  ny  avec  le  service  du  Roy,  ne  laisse  pas  d'etre  avantageux 
k  leur  commerce,  au  quel  il  n'est  rien  qu'ils  ne  sacrifient.  C'est 
la  I'unique  cause  qui  a  mis  le  dereglement  dans  nos  TMissions,  et 
qui  les  a  tellement  desolees  par  I'ascendant  quo  les  Commandans 
ont  pris  sur  les  Missionnaires  en  s'attirant  toute  I'autorite  soit  h 
I'egard  des  Frangois,  soit  a  I'egard  des  Sauvages,  que  nous 
n'avons  pas  d'autre  pouvoir  que  celui  d'y  travailler  inutilement 
sous  leur  domination  qui  s'est  elev^e  jusqu'k  nous  pour  nous 
faire  des  crimes  civils  et  des  accusations  prc^tendues  juridiques 
des  propres  fonctions  de  notre  etat  et  de  notre  devoir,  comme  I'a 
toujours  fait  Monsieur  de  la  Motte  qui  ne  voulait  pas  meme  que 
nous  nous  servissions  du  mot  de  desordre  et  qui  intente  en  effet 
procez  au  pere  Pinet  pour  s'en  etre  servi. 

....  Vous  voyez,  Monseigneur,  que  je  me  suis  beaucoup 
^tendu  sur  les  articles  des  Commandans  et  des  garnisons  pour  vous 
faire  comprendre  que  c'est  la  qu'est  venu  tout  le  malheur  de  nos 
Missions.  Ce  sont  les  Commandans,  ce  sont  les  garnisons,  qui, 
se  joignant  avec  les  traitteurs  d'eau-de-vie  les  ont  entierement 
desolees  par  I'ivrognerie  et  par  une  impudicite  presque  univer- 
selle  que  Ton  y  a  etablie  par  une  continuelle  impunite  de  I'une 
et  de  I'autre,  que  les  puissances  civiles  ne  tolerent  pas  seule- 
ment,  mais  qu'elles  permettent,  puisque  les  pouvant  empechcr, 
elles  ne  les  empeclient  pas.  Je  ne  crains  done  point  de  voua 
declarer  que  si  Ton  remet  icy  haut  dans  nos  missions  des  Com- 
mandans traitteurs  et  des  garnisons  de  soldats  traitteurs,  nous  ne 
doutons  point  que  nous  ne  soyons  contraints  de  les  quitter,  n'y 
pouvant  rien  faire  pour  le  salut  des  ames.  C'e?t  h  vous  d'iu 
former  Sa  Majeste  de  I'extremite  oil  Ton  nous  rdduit  et  de  lay 
demander  2)our  nous  notre  delivrance,  afin  que  nous  puissione 


432  APPENDIX. 

travail  ler  h  I'etablissement  de  la  Religion  sans  ces  empScliemens 
qui  I'ont  arrets  jusqu'k  present. 


I. 

THE  GOVERl^IEST  AND  THE   CLERGY. 

MiMOiRE  DE  Talon  sur  l'Etat  present  do  Canada,  1667. 
(Extrait.')     Archives  de  la  Marine. 

.  .  .  L'EccLESiASTiQUE  est  compost  d'un  Evesque,  ayant 
le  tiltre  de  Petree,  In  partibus  infidelium,  et  se  servant  du  carac- 
tere  et  de  I'autorite  de  Vicaire  Apostolique. 

II  a  soubs  [sous]  luy  neuf  Prestres,  et  plusieurs  clercs  qui 
vivent  en  communaute  quand  ils  sont  pres  de  liii  dans  son  Semi- 
naire,  et  separement  a  la  campagne  quand  ils  y  sont  envoyez  par 
voye  de  mission  pour  desservir  les  cures  qui  ne  sont  pas  encore 
fondees.  II  y  a  pareillement  les  Peres  de  la  Compagnie  de 
Jesus,  au  nombre  de  trente-ciuq,  la  pluspart  desquels  sont  em- 
ployez  aux  Missions  ^trangeres :  ouvrage  digne  de  leur  zele  et 
de  leur  piete  s'il  est  exempt  du  meslange  de  I'inti^rest  dont  on 
les  dit  susceptibles,  par  la  traitte  des  pelleteries  qu'on  assure 
qu'ils  font  aux  8ta8aks  [  Outaouaks\  et  au  Cap  de  la  Magde- 
laine ;  ce  que  je  ne  s^ay  pas  de  science  certaine. 

La  vie  de  ces  Ecclesiastiques,  par  tout  ce  qui  paroist  au  de- 
hors, est  fort  reglee,  et  pent  servir  de  bon  exemi^le  et  d'un  bon 
modele  aux  s^culiers  qui  la  peuvent  imiter ;  mais  comme  ceux 
qui  composent  cette  Colouie  ne  sont  pas  tons  d'esgale  force,  ny 
de  vertu  pareille,  ou  n'ont  pas  tons  les  mesmes  dispositions  au 
bieu,  quelques-uns  tombent  ays^meut  dans  leur  disgrdce  pour  ne 
pas  se  conformer  h.  leur  maniere  de  vivre,  ne  pas  suivre  tous 
leurs  sentimens,  et  ne  s'abandouner  pas  k  leur  conduite  qu'ils 
estendent  jusques  sur  le  temporel,  empietant  mesme  sur  la  police 
ext^rieure  qui  regarde  le  seul  magistrat. 

On  a  lieu  de  soupconner  que  la  pratique  dans  laquelle  ils 
sent,  qui  n'est  pas  bien  conforme  ^  celle  des  Ecclesiastiques  de 


APPENDIX.  433 

TAncienne  France,  a  pour  but  de  partager  I'autoritd  temporelle 
qui,  jusques  au  temps  de  I'arrivee  des  troupes  du  Roy  en  Canada, 
residoit  priiicipalement  en  leur  personnes. 

A  ce  mal  qui  va  jusques  a  g^lienuer  [^e«er]  et  contraiudre 
les  consciences,  et  par  la  desgouter  les  colons  les  plus  attachez 
au  pays,  on  peut  douner  pour  remede  I'ordre  de  balancer  avec 
adresse  et  moderation  cette  autorite  par  celle  qui  reside  ez  [^da7is 
les'\  personnes  envoyees  par  Sa  Majeste  pour  le  Gouvernement : 
ce  qui  a  desja  ete  pratique ;  de  permettre  de  renvoyer  un  ou 
deux  Ecclesiastiques  de  ceux  qui  reconuoissent  moins  cette  auto- 
nt6  temporelle,  et  qui  troublent  le  plus  par  leur  conduite  le  repos 
de  la  Colonic,  et  iutroduire  quatre  Ecclesiastiques  entre  les  &6cu- 
liers  ou  les  reguliers,  les  faisant  bien  autoriser  pour  I'administra- 
tion  des  Sacremens,  sans  qu'ils  puissent  estre  inquietez  :  autre- 
ment  lis  deviendroient  iuutiles  au  pays,  parce  que  s'ils  ne  se 
conformoient  pas  h  la  pratique  de  ceux  qui  y  sout  aujourd'huy 
M.  I'Evesque  leur  defFendroit  d'administrer  les  Sacremens. 

Pour  estre  mieux  inform^  de  cette  conduite  des  consciences, 
on  peut  entendre  Monsieur  Dubois,  Aumosnier  au  regiment  de 
Carignan,  qui  a  ouy  plusieurs  Confessions  en  secret,  et  a  la  des- 
robee,  et  Monsieur  de  Bretonvilliers  sur  ce  qu'il  a  appris  par  lea 
Ecclesiastiques  de  son  Seminaire  establi  h  Mont-Real. 

Lettre  du  Ministbb  a  Mr.  Talon,  20  Fevbier,  1668. 

(Extrait.)     Archives  de  la  Marine. 

...  II  faut  que  I'application  d'un  Gouverneur  et  d'un  Inten- 
dant  aide  a  adoucir  le  mal,  et  non  k  I'efFet  que  le  Gouverneur  ne 
se  porte  a  aucune  extremite,  contre  las  Sieurs  Eveque  et  les  P.  P. 
Jesuites,  quand  bien  meme  ils  auraient  abuse  du  pouvoir  que 
leur  habit  et  le  respect  qu'on  a  naturellement  pour  la  religion 
ieur  doniie.  En  se  contentant  par  des  conferences  particulieres 
do  resserrer  ce  pouvoir,  autant  que  se  pourra,  dans  les  bornes 
d'une  legitime  autorite  et  esperant  que,  quaud  le  pays  sera  plus 
peuple,  qui  est  la  seule  et  unique  chose  que  doit  convier  le  dit 
Sr.  Gouverneur  et  Intendant  a  y  donner  leurs  soins  quand  a  pre- 
sent, I'autorit^  Royale  qui  sera  la  phis  reconnue  des  jjeuples  pre- 
vaudra  sur  I'autre  et  la  contiendra  dans  de  justes  limites. 
— ',  .  .  Je  ne  m'explique  point  avec  vous  sur  ce  sujet,  parceque 

28 


434  APPENDIX. 

je  sais  qu'a  part  ses  bonnes  qualit^s  il  [_M.  de  Oourcelle]  a  us^ 
d'emportement  dont  il  est  bon  qu'il  se  corrige.  Insinuez  luj 
aussi  hoimetement  les  sentiments  qu'il  doit  avoir  et  ce  que  je 
vieus  de  vous  dire  au  sujet  du  Sieur  de  Ressan,  et  qu'il  ne  doit 
jamais  blumer  la  conduite  de  I'Eveque  de  P^tree  ni  des  Jesuites 
en  public,  etant  assez  d'en  user  avec  eux  avec  grande  circonspec- 
tion,  se  contentant  seulement  lorsqu'ils  entreprendront  trop  de 
leur  faire  connaitre  et  d'en  envoyer  des  memoires,  afin  que  je 
confere  avec  leurs  Superieurs  de  ces  entreprises  et  en  cas  qu'iW 
en  fasseut  qu'on  puisse  les  interdire. 

Instruction  pour  M.  de  Bouteroue,  1668. 
(Extrait.')    Archives  de  la  Marine. 

II  faut  empescher  autant  qu'il  se  pourra  la  trop  grande  quan- 
tite  des  prestres,  religieux,  et  religieuses  .  .  .  s'entremettre 
quelquefois  et  dans  les  occasions  pour  les  porter  a  adoucir  cette 
trop  grande  severite,  estant  tres-important  que  lesdits  evesque  et 
Jesuites  ue  s'aper9oivent  jamais  qu'il  veuille  blasmer  leur  con- 
duite. 

Signe  Colbert. 

For  the  instructions  on  this  subject,  more  precise  and  em 
phatic  than  the  above,  given  by  the  king  to  Talon  in  1665,  see 
N.  Y.  Colonial  Docs.,  IX.  24. 

Lettre  de  Colbert  a  Duchesneau,  15  Atril,  1676. 

(Extrait.")     Archives  de  la  Marine. 

Eviter  les  contestations  .  .  .  sans  toutefois  pr^judicier  aux 
precautions  qui  sont  a  prendre  et  aux  raesures  a  garder  pour 
empescher  que  la  puissance  ecclesiastique  n'entreprenne  rien  bui 
la  temporelle,  a  quoy  les  ecclesiastiques  sont  assez  jaortes. 

Lettrb  du  Ministre  a  Duchesneau,  le  28  Avril,  1677 

(Extrait.")     Archives  de  la  Marine. 

.  .  .  Je  Tons  dirai  premierement  que  Sa  Majesty  est  bieu 
persuadee  de  la  pi^te  de  tons  les  Ecclesiastiques  et  de  leurs  bonnes 


APPENDIX.  43,'i 

intentions  pour  le  succez  du  sujet  de  leurs  missions,  mais  Sa 
Majeste  veut  que  vous  preniez  garde  qu'ils  n'entrepreiinent  rien 
taut  sur  son  authorite  Royalle  que  sur  la  justice  et  police  du 
pays  et  que  vous  les  resserriez  precisement  dans  les  borues  de 
I'authorite  que  les  Ecclesiastiques  out  dans  le  Royaume,  sans 
souffrir  qu'ils  les  passent  en  quelque  sorte  et  maniere  que  ce 
6oit,  et  cette  maxime  generalle  vous  doit  servir  pour  toutes  les 
difficultez  de  cette  nature  qui  pourront  survenir ;  mais  pour 
parvenir  k  ce  point  il  seroit  necessaire  que  vous-mesme  vous  tra- 
vailliassiez  a  vous  rendre  habil  sur  ces  matieres  en  lisant  les 
autheurs  qui  en  ont  traitte,  observer  tout  ce  qui  se  passe  et  a  en- 
voyer  tous  les  ans  des  memoires  sur  les  difficultez  que  vous  aurez 
et  auxquelles  vous  n'aurez  pas  pu  remedier;  considerez  cette 
matiere  comme  tres  importante  et  h  laquelle  vous  ne  scjauriez 
donuer  trop  d'application. 

Lettrb  du  Ministrb  a  Ddchbsnbac,  le  premieu  Mat,  1677 

(Extrait.)     Archives  de  la  Marine. 

.  .  .  Je  suis  encore  oblige  de  vous  dire  que  Ton  voit  elaire- 
ment  qu'encore  que  le  dit  Sieur  Evesque  soit  un  homme  de  bien 
et  qu'il  fasse  fort  bien  son  devoir,  il  ne  laisse  pas  d'affecter  une 
domination  qui  passe  de  beaucoup  au  dela  des  bornes  que  les 
Evesques  ont  dans  tout  le  monde  clirestien  et  particulierement 
dans  le  Royaume  et  ainsy  vous  devez  vous  appliquer  a  bien  con- 
iioistre  et  k  s^avoir  le  plus  parfaitement  que  vous  jjourrez  I'es- 
tendue  du  pouvoir  des  Evesques  et  les  remedes  que  I'authorite 
Royalle  a  apport^  pour  en  erapescher  I'abus  et  leur  trop  grande 
domination,  afin  que  vous  puissiez  de  concert  avec  Monsieur  le 
Comte  de  Frontenac  dans  les  occasions  importantes  y  apporter  les 
mesmes  remedes,  en  quoy  vous  devez  toujours  agir  avec  beaucoup 
de  moderation  et  de  retenue.  .  .  .  Comme  je  vois  que  Monsieur 
r  Evesque  de  Quebec,  ainsi  que  je  viens  de  vous  dire  affecte  une 
authority  un  peu  trop  independante  de  I'authorite  Roj'alle  et  que 
par  cette  raison  il  seroit  peut-estre  bon  qu'il  n'eust  pas  de  seance 
dans  le  conseil,  vous  devez  bien  examiner  toutes  les  occasions 
et  tous  les  moyens  que  Ton  pourrait  pratiquer,  pour  luy  donner 
k  luy-mesme  I'envie  de  n'y  plus  venir ;  mais  vous  devez  en  cela 


436  APPENDIX. 

vous  conduire  avec  beaucoup  de  reteuue,  et  bien  prendre  garde 
que  qui  ce  soit  ne  descouvre  ce  que  je  vous  escris  sur  ce  point. 


Memoire  d0  Roi  Aox  SiEURS  DE  Frontenac  et  de  Chahpiomt, 

Annee  1692. 

(Extrait.)     Archives  de  la  Marine. 

.  .  .  Sa  Majeste  veut  aussy  qu'ils  [^Frontenac  et  Champigny] 
assistent  de  leur  authorite  les  Jesuites  et  les  Recolets  et  teua 
autres  Ecclesiastiques  sans  neantmoius  souffrir  qu'ils  portent 
I'autorite  ecclesiastique  plus  loin  qu'elle  ne  doit  s'estendre.  Elle 
ne  veut  pas  qu'ils  se  dispensent  de  faire  doucement  et  avec  toute 
la  discretion  possible  des  remonstrances  au  dit  Sieur  Evesque 
daus  les  occasions  oil  ils  reconnoistront  que  les  Ecclesiastiques 
agissent  par  un  zele  immodere  ou  par  d'autres  passions,  afin  de 
I'engager  a  y  remedier  et  a  faire  tout  ce  qui  depend  avec  lui 
pour  2Drocui"er  le  repos  des  consciences.  Les  dits  Sieurs  de  Fron- 
tenac  et  de  Champigny  doivent  se  tenir  en  cela  dans  les  voyes 
de  la  seule  excitation  et  informer  sa  Majeste  de  tout  ce  qui  se 
passera  a  cet  egard. 

Lettre  de  Monsieur  de  la  Mothe  Cadillac. 
{Extrait.)     Archives  de  la  Marine. 

28  Septembre,  1694 
....  La  chose  ne  se  passa  pas  ainsi  qu'il  I'a  raconte  dans  cet 
article  et  le  suivant ;  ceux  qui  savent  I'histoire  de  ce  temps  la  en 
jmrleut  autrement  et  voicy  le  fait :  Monsieur  de  Laval  fit 
diverses  tentatives  a  pen  pres  comme  celles  q'on  void  aujourd'huy 
dont  le  but  a  toujours  ete  de  prevaloir  sur  I'autorite  du  gouverne- 
ment ;  iMonsieur  de  Tracy  pour  lors  Vice-roy  de  ce  pays,  voyait 
trauquiliement  le  d^sir  de  cette  Elevation,  et  comme  e'estoit  uu 
homme  devot,  il  ne  jugea  pas  a  propos  de  preter  le  colet  a  cette 
cohorte  Ecclesiastique,  dont  la  puissance  etoit  redoutable. 
Monsieur  Talon  dans  cette  conjoncture  fit  paroitre  une  plus 
forte  resolution  et  risqua  pour  I'interest  du  Roy  de  perdre  sou 
credit  et  sa  fortune  ;  il  vid  qu'il  falloit  etouifer  cet  orage  dans  son 
berceau  et  enfin   par   ses  remoutrances   et  par  ses  soins,  il  fit 


APPENDIX.  437 

douner  un  arrfet  favorable  et  tel  qu'il  se  I'^toit  propos  ?.  Mon- 
sieur de  Laval  voyant  alors  qu'on  I'avoit  rengaind  et  qu'on 
I'avoit  coupe  a  demi-vent,  il  creut  suivant  la  politique  de  I'Eglise 
qu'il  falloit  atteudre  im  temps  plus  favorable  ;  ayant  douc  mis 
armes  bas,  on  tacha  de  rajuster  les  affaires  par  I'eutremise  meme 
de  Monsieur  de  Tracy  qui  obtint  de  Monsieur  Talon  au  jour  de 
ea  reconciliation  que  I'arret  en  question  seroit  raye  et  batonn«5, 
non  pas  pour  le  desaprouver  ou  pour  I'avoir  trouve  contraire  h 
toute  bonne  justice,  conime  le  veut  persuader  le  procureur 
general ;  mais  afin  que  Monsieur  de  Laval  ne  fut  pas  reprochable 
de  ses  ecarts  et  de  ses  injustes  pretentions;  ce  fut  une  foiblesse  a 
Monsieur  Talon  de  s'etre  laisse  vaincre  par  de  telles  soumis- 
sions. 

....  II  faut  etre  ici  pour  voir  les  menses  qui  se  font  tous  les 
jours  pour  renverser  le  plan  et  les  projets  d'un  Gouverneur.  II 
faut  une  tete  aussi  ferme  et  aussi  plombee  que  celle  de  Monsieur 
le  Comte  pour  se  soutenir  contres  les  ambusches  que  partout  on 
lui  dresse ;  s'il  veut  la  paix  cela  suffit  pour  qu'on  s'y  oppose  et 
qu'on  crie  que  tout  est  perdu ;  s'il  veut  faire  la  guerre,  on  lui  ex- 
pose la  ruine  de  la  collonie.  II  n'auroit  pas  tant  d'affaires  sur 
les  bras,  s'il  n'avoit  pas  aboli  un  Hiericho  qui  etait  une  maison 
que  Messieurs  du  Seminaire  de  Montreal  avoient  fait  batir  pour 
renfermer,  disoient-ils,  les  filles  de  mauvaise  vie.  S'il  avoit  voulu 
leur  permettre  de  prendre  des  soldats  et  leur  donner  des  officiers 
pour  aller  dans  les  maisons  arracher  des  femnies  h  minuit  et  cou- 
chees  avec  leurs  maris,  pour  avoir  ete  au  bal  ou  en  masque  et  les 
faire  fesser  jusques  au  sang  dans  ce  Hiericho  ;  s'il  n'avait  rieu  dit 
encore  centre  des  Cures  qui  faisoient  la  ronde  avec  des  soldats 
et  qui  obligeoient  en  este  les  filles  et  les  femmes  k  se  renfermer 
a  neuf  houres  chez  elles,  s'il  avoit  voulu  deffendre  de  porter  de 
la  dentelle,  s'il  n'avoit  rien  dit  sur  ce  qu'on  refusoit  la  communion 
a  ies  femmes  de  qualite  pour  avoir  une  fontange,  s'il  ne  s'oppo- 
soit  point  encore  aux  excommunications  qu'on  jette  a  tort  et  a 
travers,  aux  scandales  qui  s'en  suivent,  s'il  ne  faisoit  les  officiers 
que  par  la  voye  des  communaut(3S,  s'il  vouloit  deffendre  le  vin  et 
I'eau  de  vie  aux  sauvages,  s'il  ne  disoit  mot  sur  le  sujet  des  curea 
fixes  et  droits  de  patronage,  si  JNIonsieur  le  Comte  estoit  de  cea 
avis-la,  ce  seroit  assurement  un  homme  sans  pareil  et  il  sei'oit 
bientot  sur  la  liste  des  j'lus  grands  saints,  car  ou  les  canonise 
dans  ce  pais  a  bon  marche. 


438  APPENDIX. 


J. 


CANADIAN  CURES.    EDUCATION.    DISCIPLINE. 

Lettre  du  Marquis  de  Denonvillb  av  Ministue. 
(Extrait.)     Archives  de  la  Marine. 
•  A  Quebec  15  Novembhe,  1G85 

....  Vous  me  permettrez,  Monseigneur,  de  vous  demandei 
la  gi'ace  de  faire  quelques  reflections  sur  les  moyens  d'occuper  la 
jeuuesse  du  pays,  dans  son  bas  age,  et  dans  I'age  le  plus  avanc^, 
que  je  vous  ixnde  compte  de  mes  pensees  la  dessus,  puisque  c'est 
une  des  choses  la  plus  essentielle  de  la  colouie. 

Pour  y  parvenir,  Monseigneur,  le  premier  moyen  a  mon  gr^, 
est  de  multiplier  le  nombre  des  Cures,  et  de  les  rendre  plus  fixes 
et  residentaires,  Mr.  notre  Eveque  en  est  si  convaincu  par  la 
connaissance  qu'il  a  prise  de  son  diocese  dans  ses  visites,  et  dans 
le  voyage  que  nous  avons  fait  ensemble,  qu'il  n'a  point  de  plus 
grand  empressement  que  de  pouvoir  contribuer  a  cet  etablisse- 
ment  qui  serait  un  moyen  sur,  pour  faire  des  ^coles,  auxquelles 
les  cures  s'occuperaient  et  ainsi  accoutumeraient  les  enfaus  de 
bonne  heure  a  s'assugetir  et  a  s'occuper :  Mais,  Monseigneur, 
pour  faire  cet  etablissement  utilement,  U  faudrait  multiplier  le 
nombre  des  cures  jusques  au  nombre  de  cinquante  et  un.  Le 
memoire  que  je  vous  en  envoye,  vous  fera  assez  bien  voir,  que  si 
on  les  etend  davantage  et  qu'il  faille  que  les  cures  passent  et  re- 
passent  la  riviere,  comme  ils  font  a  present  pour  faire  leurs  fonc- 
tions,  ils  employent  avec  bien  du  travaU  tout  le  temps  qu'ils 
pourraient  donner  a  instruire  la  jeunesse,  si  leurs  cures  etaient 
moins  etendues.  Outre  cela,  Monseigneur,  a  I'eutr^e  et  a  la 
sortie  de  I'hiver,  il  y  a  pres  de  deux  mois  que  Ton  ne  saurait 
passer  la  riviere,  qui  en  bien  des  endroits  a  une  lieue  de  largeur, 
et  beaucoup  plus  en  d'autres.  Si  bien  que  dans  ces  temps  il 
faut  que  les  malades  demeurent  sans  aucun  secours  spirituel. 

C'est  une  pitie,  Monseigneur,  que  de  voir  I'ignorance  dans 
laquelle  les  peuj^les  eloignes  du  sejour  des  Cures  vivent  en  ce 
pays,  et  les  peines  que  les  missionnaires  et  Cures  se  donnent 
pour  y  remedier  en  parcourant  leurs  cures,  sur  le  pied  qu'ellea 
8ont  selou  le  memoire  que  je  vous  en  envoye.     Vous  y  verrez. 


APPENDIX.  439 

Monseigneur,  le  cliemin   qi.'il   leur  faut  faire  pour  visiter  leur 
paroisaes  clans  les  rigueiirs  de  I'hiver. 

Puisque  j'ai  entame  I'affaire  des  Cur^s  vous  me  permettrez 
d'achever  de  vous  dire  que  pour  la  subsistance  d'un  cure  selon  les 
connaissances  que  j'ai  pu  prendre  du  pays,  iepuis  que  j'y  suis, 
selon  le  prix  des  denrees,  on  ne  saurait  donner  moins  a  un  cure 
pour  sa  subsistance  que  quatre  cents  livres,  monoye  de  France, 
attendu  qu'il  ne  faut  pas  compter  sur  aucun  revenant  bon  du 
dedans  de  I'Eglise.  II  est  bien  vrai  qu'il  y  a  quelques  cures  qu 
6ont  mieux  peuplees  dont  les  dismes  sout  assez  raisonables  pour 
pouvoir  suffir  a  leur  entretien,  mais  il  y  en  a  tres  peu  sur  ce  pied 
la. 

J'ai  trouv^  ici  dans  le  Sdminaire  de  I'Evech^,  le  commence- 
ment de  deux  etablissements  qui  seraient  admirables  pour  la 
Colonic,  si  on  les  pouvait  augmenter,  ce  sont,  Monseigneur,  deux 
maisons  oil  Ton  retire  des  enfans  jjour  les  instruire,  dans  I'une  on 
y  met  ceux  auxquels  on  trouve  de  la  disposition  pour  les  lettres, 
auxquelles  on  s'attache  de  les  former  pour  I'Eglise,  qui  dans  la 
suite  peuvent  rendre  plus  de  service  que  les  pretres  Franpais 
^tants  pins  faits  que  les  autres  aux  fatigues  et  aux  manieres  du 
pays. 

Dans  I'autre  maison  on  y  met  ceux  qui  ne  sont  propres  que 
pour  etre  artisans,  et  a  ceux  Ik  on  apprends  des  metiers.  Je 
croirais  que  ce  serait  Ih  un  moyen  admirable  pour  commencer  un 
^tablissement  de  manufactures,  qui  sont  absolument  necessaires 
pour  le  secours  de  ce  pays. 

Mr.  notre  Eveque  est  charme  de  ces  Etablissements,  et  vou- 
drait  bien  etre  en  etat  de  les  soutenir  et  augmenter.  Mais 
comme  tout  cela  ne  se  pent  faire  sans  depense  taut  pour  I'aug- 
niontation  du  nombre  des  Cures  que  pour  cette  espece  de  manu- 
facture, et  qu'il  conviendrait  d'en  faire  de  grandes,  pour  y  rdussir, 
je  ne  vois  qu'un  moyen  assure  pour  cela,  qui  serait  que  le  Roy 
voulut  bien  donner  une  grosse  abbaye  ii  Mr.  notre  Eveque  sans 
I'attacher  a  I'Eveche,  comme  il  n'a  TespHt  et  le  cccur  occupes  que 
des  soins  de  faire  du  bien  aux  pauvres  et  augmenter  la  foi  et  le 
salut  des  ames,  il  est  certain  que  Sa  Majeste,  aurait  le  plaisir  de 
voir  employer  le  revenu  de  ce  benefice  en  bonnes  et  saintea 
cEuvres,  qui  feraient  merveille  pour  le  bien  de  la  colonie  son  son- 
tien  et  son  augmentation. 


440  APPENDIX. 

J'ai  trouve  a  Villemarie  en  I'isle  de  Montreal,  un  etablisse* 
ment  de  soeurs  de  la  congr<^gation,  sous  la  conduite  de  la  soeur 
Bourgeois,  qui  fait  de  grands  biens  a  toute  la  colonie,  elles 
furent  brulees  I'an  passe  oil  elles  perdirent  tout ;  il  seroit  fort 
necessaire  qu'elles  se  retablissent,  elles  u'ont  pas  le  premier  sol, 
j'y  ai  trouve  un  autre  diablissementde  filles  de  la  pi"Ovidence  qui 
travaillent  ensemble,  elles  pourront  commencer  quelque  manfac- 
ture  de  ce  cote  la,  si  vous  avez  la  bontd  de  continuer  la  gratifi- 
cation de  mil  livres  pour  les  laines,  et  mil  livres  pour  apprendre 
a  tricoter.  II  y  a  encore  un  troisieme  etablissement  pour  faire 
des  maitres  d'ecoles. 

II  faut  revenir  s'il  vous  plait,  Monseigneur,  a  voir  ce  qui  se 
pent  faire  pour  dissipliner  les  grands  gargons,  et  pour  donner  de 
I'occupation  aux  eufans  des  gentilshommes  et  autres  soi-disans  et 
vivans  comme  tels. 

Avant  tout,  Monseigneur,  vous  me  permettrez  de  vous  dire 
que  la  noblesse  de  ce  pays  nouveau,  est  tout  ce  qu'il  y  a  de  plus 
gueux  et  que  d'en  augmenter  le  nombre  est  augmenter  le  nombre 
des  faineants.  Un  pays  neuf  demande  des  gens  laborieux  et  in- 
dustrieux,  et  qui  mettent  la  main  a  la  hache  et  a  la  pioche.  Les 
enfans  de  nos  conseillers  ne  sont  pas  plus  laborieux,  et  n'ont  de 
ressource  que  les  bois,  oil  ils  font  quelque  traite,  et  la  plupart 
font  tons  les  desordres  dont  j'ai  eu  I'honneur  de  vous  entretenir, 
je  ne  m'oublierai  en  rien  de  ce  qu'il  y  aurait  a  faire  pour  les 
engager  a  entrer  dans  le  commerce,  mais  comme  nos  nobles  et 
conseillers  sont  tous  fort  pauvres  et  accables  de  debtes,  ils  no 
sauraient  trouver  de  credit  pour  un  ecu. 

Le  seul  moyeu  qui  me  parait  le  plus  assure  pour  discipliner 
cette  jeunesse  serait  que  le  Roy  voulut  bien  entretenir  en  ce 
pays,  quelques  compagnies,  dont  on  donnerait  le  commandement 
a  gens  d'authoritd  et  de  bonnes  moeurs  et  appliques,  comme  a 
Mr.  le  Chevalier  de  Cailliere,  a  Mr.  de  Varenes,  Gouverneur 
des  trois  Rivieres,  ou  au  Sr.  Prevot,  Major  de  Quebec,  avec  des 
Lieutenants  du  pays  que  Ton  choisirait,  lesquels  ne  devraient 
point  avoir  peine  d'obeir,  k  ceux  auxquels  naturellement  ila 
doivent  ob^ir. 


INDEX. 


Absolutism  in  Canada,  394,  395. 
Acadia.  Talon  attempts  to  open  com- 
munication with,  213. 
Agariata,  a  Mohawk  chief,  execution 

of^  192. 
Agriculture,    unprosperous    state    of, 

296,  297. 
Aillebout,  governor  of  Quebec,  seizes 
Iroquois   hostages,   34;     "insanely 
pious,"  107. 
Aillebout,  Madame,  50  ;  singular  meth- 
od of  self-discipline,  356. 
Albanel,   a  Jesmt,   chaplain  at    Fort 
Chambly,  190;  penetrated  to  Hud- 
son's Bay,  213. 
AUet,  a  Sulpitian  priest,  his  memoir, 

40  niite. 
Andaraqu^,  a  Mohawk  fort,  captured 

by  the  French,  196. 
Annahotaha,  a  Huron  chief,  74. 
Aontarisati,  a  Mohawk  chief,  execu- 
tion of,  5. 
Argenson,  Vicomte  d',  appointed  gov- 
ernor of  Canada,  65 ;  views  on  relig- 
ion, 65j  66  ;  his  character.  107  ;  quar- 
rels with  Laval,  107-114  ;   assumes 
fovernorship,  115 ;  his  troubles,  116- 
20 ;  is  recalled,  120. 
Attorney-General,  the,  duties  of,  268. 
Auteuil,  Ruette  d',  member  of  Laval's 

council,  136. 
Avaugour,  Dubois  dCj  Baron,  governor 
of  Canada,  120;  his  policy,  121;  is 
recalled,  129  ;  memorial  to  Colbert, 
129;  his  death,  130. 


B. 

Bagot,  a  Jesuit,  tutor  of  Laval,  88; 

founder  of  religious  fraternity,  90. 
Ball,  the  first,  in' Canada,  347. 
Bardy,    Father,    his    sermon   against 

Courcelle  and  Talon,  333. 
Baston,  a  merchant  of  Kochelle,  372. 


Beauport,   seigniory   of   Dr.  Giffaid, 

Beaupr(^,  Laval's  seigniory,  237 ;  most 

orderly  settlement,  374.' 
Beaver-skins,   trade  in,  5   note,  303- 

310. 
Bechefer    Jesuit  envoy  to  Mohawks, 

191. 
Beggars,  multitude  of,  in  Canada,  379 ; 
measures  to  suppress  mendicity,  380 
B^gon,  intendant,  report  of,  298.' 
Belotre,  a  peace-maker,  372. 
Bemi^res,  founder  of  The  Hermitage, 

89. 
Bemon,  a  Huguenot  merchant,  case 

of,  291,  292. 
Berthelot,  a  prosperous    settler,    262 

note. 
Bienville,  a  gentilkomme  rover,  261. 
Bochart,  Du  Plessis,  death  of,  2. 
Bochart,    Marie,    married    at    twelve 

years,  227  note. 
Boisdon,  Jean,  innkeeper,  provisions  of 

his  license,  382. 
Boston,  the  Lnglish  of,  take  possession 

of  Acadian  (isheries,  294,  295  note. 
Boucher,  Magdeleine,  her  do^vry,  381, 

382. 
Boucher,  Pierre,  delegate  from  Canada 
to  France,  131 ;  his  book,  131  note 
221  note. 
Bougainville  cited,  365 ;  opinion  of  th« 

habitant,  389. 
Bon]\6,  farmer  of  Dr.  GifTard,  246. 
Bourdon,    Jean,    altorncy-general    of 
Canada,  136;  his  speculations,  138; 
banished  bv  Me/.y,  155. 
Bourdon,Ma(iame,her  weighty  chargea, 

Bourgeo3's,  Marguerite,  founder  of 
school  at  Montreal,  returns  to  Can- 
ada, 41,  42  ;  keeps  school  in  a  stable, 
43;  superiutci.ds  marriages,  224. 

Brandy,  Indian  fondness  for,  121, 122 ; 
its  use  and  effects,  323  ;  essential  to 
fur  trade,  324 ;  penalties  for  selling, 
325  and  note ;  questi*  ns  of  sale  re- 


442 


INDEX. 


ferred  to  Doctors  of  Sorbonne  and 

chief  people  of  Canada,  326. 
Braun,  Father,  sermon  on  Church  and 

.State,  Ififj. 
brebeiif.  Father,   miraculous  efficacy 

of  his  bones,  180. 
Br^da,  treaty  of,  secured  peace  between 

English  and  French  colonies,  199. 
Brc^soles,  a  nun  of  sisterhood  of  St. 

Joseph,  46 ;  piety  and  culinary  skill, 

51. 
Briggac,  Claude  de,  tortured  to  death 

b-'  Iioquois,  57,  58. 
Bullion,  Madame  de,   "the  unknown 

benefactress,"  45. 
Busy  season,  the  386. 


c. 


Canada,  condition  of,  in  1660-1661, 63, 
64 ;  domestic  quarrels  in,  83,  84 ;  in 
state  of  transition,  106, 107 ;  govern- 
ment vested  in  council  of  nine,  135 ; 
dawn  of  a  better  day,  179. 

Canadians,  pride  and  sloth,  chief  faults 
of,  257,  258 ;  phj^sical  characteristics 
of,  378 ;  conflictmg  estimates  of,  388. 

uarneii,  a  jesmi  priest,  cited.  315,  319- 
322 ;  letter  of,  touching  misiicns. 
427-432. 

Carignan-Sali^res,  first  regiment  of 
regular  troops  sent  to  America  by 
French  governmentj  181 ;  its  history, 
181,  182  and  note ;  its  members  dis- 
charged and  made  colonists,  218. 

Carion,  a  lioutenant,  assaults  a  brother 
officer,  37  I,  372. 

CasgTain,  Abb^,  cited,  294  note. 

Catalogne,  report  of,  on  condition  of 
Canada,  254  note ;  report  of,  297 ; 
memoire  of,  424-427. 

Catholics  in  France,  parties  among, 
95. 

Censltaire,  tenant  of  land  en  censive, 
249 ;  rights  of,  250-252. 

Censive,  en,  a  kind  of  tenure,  249. 

ChalonSj  Sieur  de,  Kiverin's  partner, 
293 ;  joint  memoire  of,  423. 

Chan-pignv,  intendant,  letter  of,  257; 
refeiTed'to.  376. 

Champlain,his  sti-ong  missionary  spirit, 

Character,    Canadian,    formation    of, 

394. 
Charlevoix,  Father,  statement  of,  123 ; 

reference  to  mines,  210  note ;  opinions 

of  Canadian  society,  392,  393. 
Chamy,  son  and  successor  of  Lauson, 

32. 
Charron,  alderman  and  syndic  of  Qnfi- 

'jec,  153. 


Cliasy,  nephew  of  Gen.  Tracy,  killed 
by  Indians,  191. 

Chateau  St.  Louis,  419-421. 

Chatel,  a  nun  of  Sisterhood  of  St. 
Joseph,  47. 

Chatelain,  Father,  his  prying  dispo- 
sition, 350,  351. 

Chaumonot,  a  Jesuit,  envoy  to  Onon- 
dagas,  16,  17;  letter  of,  81,  82  note. 

Chaumont,  Chevalier  de,  member  of 
Tracy's  staff,  178;  afflicted  with  a 
blister,  194. 

Chesnaye,  Charles  Aubert  de  la,  letter 
of,  325  note,  326  note. 

Children,  bounties  on,  227 ;  gratif\-ing 
results  of  this  polic\',  228 ;  Baudot's 
opinion  of,  376  note. 

Citifere,  La,  a  forfeited  grant,  249  note. 

Closse,  Major,  killed  by  Iroquois,  58. 

Colbert,  Jean  Baptiste,"letter  to  Terron, 
142,  143 ;  minister  of  Louis  XIV., 
his  character  and  aims,  172-196; 
authorities,  173  note  ;  instructions 
to  Talon,  209;  scolds  intendants, 
277 ;  instructions  as  to  Jesuits,  334, 
335 ;  letter  to  Talon,  416,  417 ;  to 
same,  433;  letters  to  Duchesneau, 
434,  435. 

Colombifere,  vicar-general,  eulogv  on 
Laval,  165. 

Colonization,  military,  peculiarities  of, 
231,232. 

Communication  with  France,  rarity  of. 
288.  ^     ' 

Company  of  the  West,  its  creation  and 
purpose,  174 ;  how  it  oppressed 
Canada,  175. 

Confessional,  the,  use  of,by  Jesuits,351. 

Conversion  of  Iroquois,  political  signif- 
icance of,  317. 

Cotes,  formation  of,  234. 

Council,  sovereign,  reorganization  of, 
154;  constitution  and  powers  of, 
267,  268  ;  in  session,  271,  272. 

Councillors,  character  and  tenure  of, 
274. 

Courcelle.     See  Remy. 

Coureurs  de  bois,  310-313  ;  punishment 
of,  310,  311 ;  their  return,  picture  of, 
312,  313;  uses  and  life,  313-315; 
missionaries'  complaints  of,  321. 

Coutume  de  Pars,  252. 

Crolo,  a  nun  of  S.sterhood  of  St.  Joseph, 
47. 

Curds,  fixation  of,  161 ;  this  policy  fa- 
vored by  the  king,  338 ;  DenonylUe'a 
views  on,  438-440. 

D. 

Dablon,  a  Jesuit,  envoy  to  Onondaga, 
16 ;  preaches  against  theatres,  347. 


INDEX. 


443 


Damonrs,  Matihieu,  member  of  Laval's 
council,  136 ;  arrest  of  his  sons,  259. 

Daulac,  Adam,  heroic  enterprise  of, 
73-82;  death  of,  81;  saved  Canada 
from  invasion,  82  note. 

Damersiere,  Le  Rover  de  la,  founder 
of  Sisterhood  of  St.  Joseph,  42; 
sketch  of,  45 ;  miracle  -wrought  in 
his  behalf,  46,  47. 

l)emers,  his  encounter  with  La  Fred- 
idre,  369,  370. 

Demons,  how  they  wrought  against 
the  .Jesuits,  31. 

Denonville,  governor  of  Canada,  letter 
of,  258  ;  memoire,  294,  311,  312 ; 
priestly  counsel  as  to  his  mode  of  life, 
344-346 ;  account  of  disorders  in  col- 
ony, 375,  376 ;  his  views  on  rearing 
children,  377 ;  letter  of,  on  cur(5s, 
438-440. 

Discoverv  of  the  Great  West,  reference 
to,  213'. 

Disorder  in  the  colony,  causes  of,  374, 
375. 

Dollier  de  Casson,a  priest, extracts  from 
writings  of,  40  note,  49  note,  55,  58, 
60,  75,'l87, 212,  227, 229 ;  exploits  of, 
194,  195 ;  sent  to  Fort  Anne,  his  ad- 
ventures 671  route,  201 ;  liis  welcome, 
202;  his  work,  203,  204  note;  a 
peacemaker,  372 ;  his  story  of  an 
outlaw,  373. 

Drunkenness,  most  destructive  vice  in 
the  colony,  378. 

Du  Bois,  Jean  Baptiste,  a  French 
officer,  deputed  to  take  possession  of 
Mohawk  country,  198. 

Duchesneau,  intendant,  letter  of,  25'' ; 
blamed  for  non-iucrease  of  popula- 
tion, 277;  his  plan  tn  encourage 
fisheries,  295  ;  cite-',  dlO,  311,  377. 

Du  Lhut,  a  gevtUhomnie  rover,  261 ; 
his  scheme  of  organizing  coureurs  de 

boh,  no. 

Dumesnil,  agent  of  Company  of  New 
France,  132 ;  raises  a  storm  at  Quebec, 
132,  133  ;  attempts  on  his  life,  134 ; 
error  of,  137  note  ;  his  papers  seized, 
139,  140;  flees  to  France,  141,  142; 
his  principal  memorial,  144  7iote  ;  me- 
moire concerning  affairs  in  Canada, 
411-413. 

Dumont,  an  officer  sent  from  France 
to  report  on  condition  of  Canada, 
131. 

Dupuy,  Paul,  punished  for  expressing 
t.n  opinion,  281. 

Dupuy,  Paul,  ollioer  of  Carignan,  369. 

Du  Puys,  Zachary,  20;  his  coolness, 
35 ;  escape  of,  38,  39. 

Durantaye,  La,  202,  320  note. 


E. 

Earthquake,  the,  125-128. 
Earth-slides,  127  and  note. 
Education,  controlled  by  ecclesiastics, 

359 ;    branches  of  learning  taught, 

360. 
Eels,  Jesuit  fisheries  of,  330  note. 
Elections,    public,    proposed    by    De 

M^zy,  149. 
Emigrants,  shipment  of,  begun,  215 ; 

process   of  sending,  216 ;   character 

of,  217  and  note. 
Emigration,  growth  of  Canada  by,  218 

note  ;  cessation  of,  230. 
English  colonies,  comparison  of,  with 

Canada,  causes  of  their  greater  pros- 
perity, 396. 
Estrades,    Mar^chal    d',    viceroy   foi 

America,  176. 


F. 

Faillon,  Abbfe,  author's  indebtedness 
to,  61,  62  note. 

Fairs,  grand  annual,  303,  304. 

Ferland,  Abbe,  his  defence  of  Laval, 
113,  114  ;  cited,  247  note. 

Ferte,  Juchereau  de  la,  member  of 
Laval's  council,  136. 

Feudalism,  transplanting  of,  243 ; 
essential  feature  of,  unkno^vn  in 
Canada,  24-'i ,  instinctive  feature  of, 
in  Canada,  248. 

Fiiiances,  colonial,  condition  of,  299- 
301. 

Fires,  how  they  were  managed  in  Que- 
bec, 384. 

Flemish  Bastard,  the,  a  half-breed 
leader  of  Mohawks,  11,  191.  192. 

Fontainebleaii,  court  of  Louis  XIV.  at, 
169. 

Fort  William  Henry,  site  of j  193. 

France,  Canadians  not  peniiitted  to  re- 
turn to,  without  leave,  281. 

Franchetot,  Matluirin,  capture  of,  3. 

Fremin,  a  Jesuit  priest,  21. 

French  system  of  colonization,  one  ad- 
vantage of,  398. 

Frenchmen,  educated,  list  of,  366  noti 

Frontenac,  Count,  complains  of  scarcity 
of  peasant  girls,  220 ;  views  on  tha 
brandy  question,  328 ;  cited,  348. 

Fur  trade,  the,  303 ;  its  irregularities, 
305  ;  licenses,  305  ;  shipment  to 
France,  306;  accumulation  of  furs, 
307  ;  a  monopoly,  307,  308 ;  another 
glut,  309  ;  authorities  on,  309  nute  , 
great  evil  resulting  from,  309.31'^ 


444 


INDEX. 


G. 

Gabour}',  Louis,  punished  for  eating 

meat  in  Lent,  283. 
Garaconti^,  an  Indian  chief,  friendly 

to  Jesuits,  184. 
Gardes  de  la  marine,  appointments  to, 

259. 
Garneau,  cited,  217  note. 
GrarreaUj  a  Jesuit,  murder  of,  31. 
Ga-.iais-Dupont,  royal  commissioner, 

16;     his    instructions,    136    note; 

memorial  to  Colbert  in  the  Dumesnil 

case,  409-411. 
Gentilshommes,  255,  256  ;  poverty  and 

idleness  of,  257 ;  painful  position  of, 

200 ;    their    adventurous   Ufe,   261 ; 

their  discoveries,  261. 
Giffard,  a  prominent  citizen  of  Quebec, 

137  note. 
Girls,  education  of,  365. 
God^,  Nicolas,  55. 
Gossip,  fondness  of   country  women 

for,  387. 
Government    of    Canada,   nature   of, 

264,  288. 
Governors  of  Canada,  rank  and  duties 

of,  265,  266. 
Guimont,  Louis,  a  pious  cripple,  363. 
Guion,  Jean,  how  he  rendered  homage 

to  his  seignior,  246,  247. 


H. 

Habitants,  tenure  of,  245,  246. 

Harlay,  Archbishop  of  Rouen,  Colbert's 
letter  to,  222. 

Hazeur,  builds  a  saw-mill,  293. 

Heresy  driven  out  of  Canada,  354 ;  the 
search  for  it,  354,  355. 

Hemutage,  the,  Nicole's  account  of,  89- 
93;  object  of  founders,  93  note  ;  his- 
tory and  purpose  of,  403-407. 

Hertel,  Francois,  letters  of,  67, 68 ;  his 
career,  68. 

Hifitory,  Canadian,  English  conquest 
iLe  grand  crisis  of,  400,  401. 

Hocquart,  intendant,  his  estimate  of 
Canadians,  389. 

Holy  Family,  colony  in  honor  of,  43. 

Holy  Family,  Congregation  of,  a  source 
of  information  for  the  priests,  352. 

Holy  Family  of  Jesus,  Mary,  and 
Joseph,  soldiers  of,  60. 

Holy  Virgin,  proprietor  of  Montreal, 
61  and  note ;  miraculous  interposi- 
tion of,  70,71. 

Homage  of  vassal  to  seignior,  how  ren- 
dered, 246,  247. 


Huguenots,  conversion  of,  180-182 
restrictions  on  merchants,  291. 

Hunt,  Prof.  Sterry,  on  earth-slides, 
127  note. 


Iberville,  Le  Moyne  d',  261. 

Ignorance  of  Canadians,  365,  366. 

Indian  converts  sent  against  New  Eng- 
land, 318. 

Indian  women,  reproductive  qualities 
of,  223  note. 

Indians,  education  of,  163 ;  as  an  ele- 
ment of  population,  228  note. 

Inns,  peculiar  regulations  touching, 
382,  383. 

Intendant,  the  royal,  rank  and  duties 
of,  264-266 ;  his  secret  reports,  266, 
274 ;  nominally  ruhng  power  in  col- 
ony, 275;  his  troubles,  275,  276; 
ordinances  of,  277. 

Irreverence  to  God,  punishment  of, 
282. 

Isle  aux  Oies,  scene  of  attack  by  Mo- 
hawks, 15. 


J. 

Jansenists,  the  doctrines  of,  88 ;  a  raid 
on,  91-93. 

Jesuits,  the,  programme  of,  96 ;  prin- 
ciples of,  166 ;  desired  by  Incbans, 
205 ;  their  self-devotion.  313  ;  influ- 
ence over  Indians,  319 ;  their  con- 
nection with  trade.  328-330  note : 
watched  by  order  of  the  king,  332  j 
long  the  only  confessors  in  the  col- 
ony, 352. 

"Jesuits  in  North  America,"  referred 
to,  9. 

JoUet,  Louis,  established  fishing-sta- 
tion, 293. 

Jouaneaux,  his  misfortunes  and  his 
gratitude,  52,  53. 

Juchereau,  Mother,  extracts  from  writ- 
ings of,  179,  212,  381. 

Judge,  office  of,  in  Canadi,  270,  271. 

Jumeau,  a  nun,  humilitj'  of,  52. 

Jurisdiction,  the,  of  several  tribunals 
268,  269 ;  of  intendant,  271. 

Justice,  administration  of,  271. 

K. 

Kahn,  a  Swedish  botanist,  his  sketch 
of  Canadian  traits  and  man  ners,  38^ 
392. 

Knighthood,  a  Canadian  order  of,  37B 


INDEX. 


Ul 


L. 

x-a  Bar  re,  cited,  353  note;  complains 
of  lawlessness,  373,  374,  377. 

l^a  Durautaye,  a  French  officer,  261. 

Lafitau,  liisbook  on  Iroquois  cited,  30, 
31,  note. 

La  Fontaine,  Sir  L.  H.,  cited,  247 
note. 

La  Fredi6re,  Major,  his  licentiousness 
and  tyranny,  369,  370. 

La  Hontan,  slietch  of  mothers  of  Can- 
ada, 220,  221 ;  cited,  270,  284,  291, 
348 ;  estimate  of  Canadians,  388. 

La  Jeune,  Father,  invited  to  choose  a 
bishop  for  Canada,  87. 

Lalemant,  Father  Jerome,  reference  to, 
113, 120, 122 ;  extracts  from  writin£;s 
of,  124,  125, 152,  154;  cited,  322,  328 
note. 

Lamoignon,  president  of  parliament, 
120. 

La  Motte-Cadillac,  a  (jentilhormiie  rover, 
261;  cited,  334  note,  349,  350;  let- 
ter of,  430,  437. 

LaMouche,  nephew  of  Annahotaha,  79. 

Langlois,  Noel,  a  carpenter,  becomes 
gentleman,  256. 

La  Potherie  cited,  387. 

La  Salle,  201 ;  cited,  329,  351. 

La  Tesserie  appointed  member  of 
council  by  M^zy,  154. 

La  Tour,  Abb(5,  errors  of,  155  note  ; 
testimony  as  to  quarrel  of  Laval  and 
M^zy,  158  note;  cited,  217  note, 
298 ;  on  fashions,  381. 

Lauson,  governor  of  Canada,  decides 
to  establish  a  French  colony  at 
Onondaga,  20 ;  his  inefficiency,  23 ; 
his  manner  of  living,  381. 

Laval-Slontmorency,  Francois  Xavier 
de,  Abb6  de  Montigny,'  sketch  of, 
87,  88 ;  his  training,  94, "96  ;  hostile  to 
Sulpitians,  97;  appointed  grand 
vicar  apostolic,  97  ;  Iiis  position  and 
character,  103, 106  ;  returns  to  France, 
135 ;  effects  changes  in  government 
of  Canada,  135 ;  returns  to  Caiuida 
with  enlarged  powers,  130  ;  his  policy, 
137;  sources  of  his  strength,  155; 
letter  to  cardinals,  159 ;  lirst  bishop 
of  Quebec,  160 ;  founds  a  seminary, 
160;  ti.xation  of  curt^s,  161;  how  he 
raised  funds,  102,  163  ;  his  character 
and  work,  164-108  ;  resigns,  and  is 
detained  in  France,  338  ;  correspond- 
ence with  Argenson,  407 ;  with 
M^zy,  414. 

Lavigue,  exploit  of,  59. 

Le  Ber,  merchant  of  Montreal^  52; 
made  a  gentlemen  for  6000  hvres, 
256. 


Le  Ber,  Jeanne,  story  of,  356-359 ; 
saves  the  country  from  English  inva- 
sion, 359. 

Le  Clerc  cited,  217. 

Le  Maltre,  a  priest,  41;  his  murder 
and  his  mh-aculous  handkerchief, 
55,  56. 

Le  Mercierj  Father,  extracts  from  letter 
of,  5 ;  cited,  11,  21 ;  valuable  fact 
about  rattlesnakes,  26 ;  cited,  27, 
29. 

Le  Moyne,  Charles,  73;  return  from 
captivity,  184;  sketch  of,  261-263 
and  note, 

Le  Moyne,  Father  Simon,  envoy  to 
Onondaga,  11-14;  incites  Iroquois 
to  make  war  on  Fries,  13,  14  ;  sent 
on  mission  to  Mohawks^  15. 

Leroles,  cousin  of  Marciius  de  Tracy, 
captured  by  Indians,  191. 

Lesdigui6res,  Duchesse  de,  Charle- 
voix's letter  to,  392. 

Lodn  et  ventes,  mutation  fines,  250. 

Lormeau,  an  ensign,  assaulted  by 
Carion,  371,  372. 

Louis,  Father,  prior  of  Jacobin  convent 
at  Caen,  146. 

Louis  XIV.,  King  of  France,  his  acces- 
sion, 169  ;  his  ])osition  and  character, 
170-172 ;  his  interest  in  Canada,  218 ; 
faults  of  his  rule,  284 ;  how  he  gov- 
erned, 285,  286  ;  not  a  prohibitionist, 
327  ;  his  distrust  of  Laval,  334 ;  his 
respect  for  ecclesiastical  powers,  331 ; 
his  hberality  to  Canadian  church, 336, 
337;  effects  of  his  inter\-ention  in 
government  of  (Canada,  368,  3G9 ; 
memoire  of,  to  MM.  Frouteuac  and 
Champigny,  436. 

Louvigni,  Berni^res  de,  founder  of 
Hermitage,  88 ;  his  belief,  90. 

Luci6re,  La  Rlotte  de  la,  commandant  at 
Fort  St.  Anne,  202. 


M. 

Jlac^,  a  nun  of  sisterhood  of  St.  Joseph, 
46. 

Madry,  aldennan  of  Quebec,  153. 

Maillet,  treasurer  of  Sisterhood  of  St. 
Joseph,  42. 

Maintenon,  Madame  dc,  how  she  ruled 
the  king,  286,  287. 

Maisonneuve,  I'aul  Chomedev  de,  gov- 
ernor of  Montreal,  44,  50  ;  fiis  procla- 
mation, 60,  61 ;  removed  by  M(5zy, 
147. 

Manners  of  mission  period,  381  { 
Kalm's  account  of,  389-392. 

Manufactures,  iniprovemei:t  of,  298. 

Marie  de  I'lucaiuation.  letters  of,  IM 


446 


INDEX. 


note,  181, 182, 183, 194, 197,  200,  217 
note,  219,  222,  242. 

Marvels,  visions,  and  voices,  124,  125. 

Mazarin,  vacillation  of,  84,  85. 

Maz^,  Peionne  de,  son  of  Dumesnil, 
133, 134 ;  appointed  member  of  coun- 
cil by  Mczy,  154. 

Meetings,  public,  restricted,  280;  of 
merchants  forbidden,  301. 

Mental  improvement  of  Canadians,  365. 

Mesnu,  Peu\Tet  de,  secretary  of 
Laval's  councilj  136. 

Meules,  his  menunre  cited,  381  note. 

M^zy,  Sieur  de,  appointed  governor  of 
Canada  at  Laval's  request,  135 ; 
arrival  of,  136 ;  sketch  of,  145 ;  his 
piety  and  humility,  147  ;  change  in 
his  '  character,  148  ;  breach  with 
Laval,  149 ;  threatened  with  wi-ath 
of  the  church,  150 ;  appeals  to  the 
Jesuits,  150-152 ;  removes  attorney- 
general,  152 ;  is  recalled,  155 ;  his 
death,  156,  157 ;  his  wiU,  157 ;  his 
charges  against  Laval,  158  note ; 
correspondence  with  Laval,  413, 414 ; 
letter  to  Jesuits,  415,  416. 

Michillimackinac,  centre  of  beaver 
trade,  319. 

Mills  on  the  frontier,  235. 

Mission-days,  the  end  of,  331. 

Missions,  316 ;  hardships  and  horrors 
of,  317,  343  ;  Father  Carheil's  report 
on,  319, 320 ;  effect  of,  on  people  and 
country,  368. 

Mituvemeg,  an  Algonquin  chief,  75. 

Mohawks,  persistent  hostility  of,  183 ; 
punishment  of,  195,  196. 

Moutmagny,  governor  of  Canada,  107. 

Montreal,  state  of  an  an-ival  of  Mon- 
trealists,  49,  50 ;  Argenson's  opinion 
of,  117,  118;  remnant  of  founders 
of,  84 ;  transferred  to  Sulpitians,  84 ; 
description  of,  240,  241. 

Montrealists,  disingenuousness  of,  49 
and  7Wte  ;  sufferings  of,  51. 

Morals  of  families  watched  by  priests, 
348 ;  La  Hontan's  testimony,  349 ; 
military  influence  on,  369. 

Morel,  Father,  his  parochial  charge,  341. 

Morin,  a  nun  of  Sisterhood  of  St. 
Joseph,  her  accomit  of  Indian  at- 
tack, 53,  54 ;  letter  of,  369. 

Municipal  regulations  in  Quebec,  383. 

N. 

New  England,  colonists  of,  their  char- 
acter, 397. 

New  France,  Company  of,  its  reanima- 
tion,  132  ;  forced  to  give  up  its  claiois 
on  Canada,  135. 


Nicolls,    English   governor   of    New 

York,  proposes  conquest  of  Cana 

da,  199. 
Nobility,  French,  peculiarities  of,  254. 
Noblesse,  a  Canadian,  king   attempts 

to  form,  227 ;  all  Canada  infatuated 

with,  256. 
Noel,  Jean,  renders  homage  to  British 

governor^  247. 
Noel,  Philippe,  father  of  Jean  Noel 

247. 
Nuns,  devotion  of,  356. 

0. 

Officers,  French,  missionaries'  com- 
plaints of,  320. 

Oneidas,  persistent  hostility  of,  183. 

Ornamental  arts,  298. 

Oudiette,  a  monopolist  in  transport  of 
beaver-skins,  306. 


P. 

Perrot,  Nicolas,  author  of  Maurg  de$ 
Sauvages,  192  note. 

Pijart,  letter  of,  against  Queylus,  86, 87. 

Pilots,  lack  of,  296. 

Poncet,  a  Jesuit,  capture  of,  3 ;  narra- 
tive of  adventures,  3-7;  release,  8. 

Population,  why  it  did  not  increase, 
229  and  note ;  statistics  of,  237  note. 

Poverty  of  colony,  causes  of  it,  380. 

Pretextata,  terrible  punishment  of,  346. 

Priests,  rigid  piety  of,  344. 


Q- 


Quebec,  alarm  at,  70;  description  of, 
238,  239. 

Queylus,  Sulpitian  candidate  for  bishop, 
84  ;  appointed  vicar-general  of  Can- 
ada, 85 ;  experience  at  Quebec,  85 
note  ;  his  policy,  86  ;  Viger's  notice 
of,  87  note ;  opposes  Laval,  97  ;  sent 
back  to  France,  98 ;  returns  to  Que- 
bec ;  the  quarrel  renewed,  and 
Queylus  again  shipped  to  France ;  a 
reconciliation  effected,  and  returns 
to  Canada  as  a  missionary,  99-102. 


R. 


Ragueneau,  a  Jesuit  priest,  spared  in 
a  massacre,  33;  referred  to,  113; 
tells  a  strange  story  of  a  \'ision,  ]  25 
note  ;  his  inquisitiveness,  350. 


INDEX. 


447 


Raisin,  a  nun  of   Sisterhoo'l  of   St. 

Joseph,  47. 
Rank,  grades  of  social,  387. 
Raudot,  iutendant,  his  opinion  of  Ca- 
nadian children,  376  note. 
RecoUets,    the,    335 ;    their    collisions 

with  jEsuits,  353;  their  complaints, 

35!?. 
Relations,  of  the  Jesuits,  excited  spirit 

of  adventure  in  France,  177,  183. 
RelJ£,ion,  revival  of,  at  Quebec,  128; 

in  the  wilderness,  picture  of,  342. 
R^my,  Daniel  de,  sieur  de  Courcelle, 

appointed  governor  of  Canada,  176  ; 

rash   expedition   and   failure,   186- 

190  ;  its  effect  on  Indians,  190. 
Repent  igny,  mayor  of  Quebec,  153. 
Richelieu,   first  planted  feudalism  in 

Canada,  244. 
Riverin,    established    fisheries,     293 ; 

joint  memoire  of,  423. 
Rome,  Church  of,  strongest  influence 

in  shaping  colony,  400. 


s. 

Saint  Andr^,  an  emigrant  ship,  41. 
Saint  Anne,  du  Petit  Cap,  shrine  of, 

how  it  was  built,  363  ;  favorite  saint 

of  Canada,  363,  364  note. 
Saint  Augustin,  Mother  Catherine  de, 

her  vision,  125. 
Saint-Castin,    a    gentilhomme    rover, 

261. 
Saint    F^licit^,    relics   of,  received  at 

Quebec,  180. 
Saint    Flavian,   relics  of,  received  at 

Quebec,  180. 
Saint  Lusson,  took  possession,  for  king, 

of  upper  lakes,  213. 
Saint  Mary  of  Gannentaa,  mission  of, 

29  and  mite. 
Saint  Ours,  destitution  of,  258. 
Saint  P^re,  Jean,  subject  of  miracle, 

55. 
Saint  Simon,  memoires  of,  cited,  286, 

287. 
Saint-Vallier,     Laval's     successor    in 

bishopric ;   how   he    undid    Laval's 

work,  339 ;  his  character,  339 ;  dis- 
cordant opinions  of,  as  to  condition 

of  people,  377,  378. 
Saints  in  Canada,  355. 
Salaries  of  public  oHicers,  284, 285  and 

nute. 
Salit^res,  colonel  of  regiment  Carignan- 

Sali^res,  181. 
Schools,  true  purpose  of,  360 ;  Laval's. 

361 ;  succe^sf  ul  only  in  makinu;  good 

Catholics,  364. 


Seigniorial  tenure,  its  discussion,  253 

note. 
Seigniors,   military,   how  thev  lived, 

233-235;   civil   status  of,   245,   246, 

243 ;  povvers  of,  252. 
Seminary,  founded  by  Laval,  160 ;  its 

wealth,  163,  164. 
Servants,  status  of,  283. 
Settlers,  their  hardships,  241,  242. 
Ship-building,  beginning  of,  298. 
Slavery  in  Canada,  beginning  of,  388 ; 

Lidians  enslaved,  388. 
Social  pleasures,  regulation   of,   344- 

347,  and  347  note. 
Society  at  Quebec,  features  and  quality 

of,  386,  387. 
Sulpitiaus,  a   religious   cgamzatioo, 

passim. 


T. 

Tadoussac,  a  trading  station  at  mouth 
of  Saguenay,  237;  sale  of  brandy 
pennitted  at,  326. 

Talon,  Jean  Baptiste,  royal  intendant 
of  Canada,  176  ;  his  personal  appear- 
ance and  quaUrtcations,  207 ;  essays 
to  galvanize  the  colonj',  209 ;  in- 
augurates commercial  and  manu- 
facturing ontei-prises,  210-213;  his 
probity,  214 ;  letters  to  Colbert,  418 ; 
vieniotre  oa  state  of  Canada,  432, 
433. 

Taxation  in  Canada,  301,  302. 

Temperance  meeting,  first  on  the  con- 
tinent, 322. 

Temperance  question,  the,  121 ;  free 
sale  of  brandy,  123,  322. 

Tilly,  Le  Gardeur  de,  member  of  La- 
val's council,  136  ;  reappointed, 
154. 

Torture  of  prisoners  permitted  by 
Jesuits,  69-71  nute. 

Torture  permitted  by  French  law,  and 
practised  in  Canada,  283,  284. 

Touches,  P('ronne  des,  son  of  Dumes- 
nil,  killed  by  violence,  134. 

Tourmente,  Cape,  view  from,  362, 
363. 

Tracy,  Marquis  de,  lieutenant-general 
of  Canada,  arrival  of,  177,  178 ;  his 
vigorous  policy,  181  ;  e.xjiedition 
against  Mohawks,  192;  most  suc- 
cessful of  all  expeditious  against 
Indians,  206. 

Trade,  rigiit  of  nobles  to  engage  in, 
260;  restriction  of,  289,  290;  great- 
est evil  of,  292;  statistics  of,  292 
note ;  Denonrille's  letter  on,  422, 
423. 


448 


INDEX. 


V. 

Varennes,  Ren^  Gaultier  de,  a  French 
officer  who  married  a  bride  of  twelve 
years,  227  7inte. 

Vasseur,  an  engineer,  extract  from  let- 
ter of,  384,  385. 

Verendrye,  Varennes  de  la,  discoverer 
of  Rocky  Mountains,  birth  of,  227 
note. 

Vignal,  Guillaume  de,  a  priest,  41 ; 
killed  and  eaten  by  Iroquois,  57. 

Villages,  Talon's,  236. 

Villeray,  Rouer  de,  member  of  Laval's 
council,  136  ;  Argenson's  opinion  of 
him,  138 ;  banished  by  M^zy,  155. 


Vitrv,  Sieur  de,  aided  in  establishing 

fishery,  293,  294. 

w. 

Witches,  scarcity  of,  355 ;  a  Huguenot 
specimen,  355. 

Wives  for  settlers,  supplied  by  the 
king,  219 ;  their  quality,  219 ;  for 
officers,  "  select  young  ladies,"  219  ; 
a  glut  of  demoiselles,  220  ;  character 
of,  220;  matrimonial  regulations, 
222,  223;  "mixed  gonds,"  223; 
matrimonial  market  at  Quebec,  223. 

Women,  Iroquois,  political  rights  of 
30  note. 


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